Teddy Lupin and the Philosopher's Stone
by TMONACELLI
Summary: Set in the world of Inverarity's (excellent) Hogwart's Houses Divided, this story follows Teddy Lupin and his friends in their second year at This story is complete and will be uploaded in three
1. Chapter 1 Disguises and Surprises

A/N: This story is a follow-up to Inverarity's _Hogwarts Houses Divided_ ( s/3979062/1/Hogwarts-Houses-Divided). I would absolutely recommend that you go read that story first before getting to this.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Disguises and Surprises**

Teddy Lupin had been caught.

"I'm impressed with your follicle control," Aunt Hermione said while frowning at him. "But you really need to learn not to spy on people, Teddy."

She was complimenting his metamorphmagus abilities as Teddy had changed his skin to match the fern that he was hiding behind. Apparently making the ends of his hair short and pointy like the little buds meant his follicle control was increasing.

"I know," Teddy said, resuming his normal face, and looking down. This was not the first time that summer that some adults had caught him like this. His grandmother Andromeda had commented earlier that week that the school year couldn't start soon enough after once again being fooled by one his aliases. He had felt guilty upon hearing that. Ever since the previous year at Hogwarts though, where his gift had saved his life on numerous occasions, he had been practicing as much as possible at assuming the faces of those around him.

"And I don't know exactly what you heard," said his godfather, Harry Potter, standing beside Aunt Hermoine, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Gin, "but you don't know the whole story."

Teddy had been hiding behind the fern outside the kitchen window at the Burrow for almost a half an hour as his cousins and he had been playing hide and go seek. It had become a favorite game of the summer ever since Teddy started changing his appearance for the amusement of the rest of the family. He had been bored waiting for his cousin, Victoire, to find him when he overheard a conversation between some of the adults in his family.

"I don't trust him," said Ron.

"Ron- If Mair Llewellyn is going to vouch for him, than I do too," said Hermione.

"Well that's easy for you to say," said Ron. "The only files you've read of his are academic papers."

Teddy had no idea who they were talking about but assumed it was one of the researchers that his aunt sometimes worked with.

"Really- you get it in your head that someone is up to something and then it takes an outrageous effort to get you to come around."

"The man is a political exile luv."

"Ron..." warned Harry.

Teddy wasn't sure what political exile meant. He had of course known about people sent away during the war but those people were all brought back once Voldermort had been defeated.

"Harry, you and I both know that these two will find out this stuff anyway."

"Hey!" said his aunt Ginny.

"We're lousy at interrogation when it's under our roofs aren't we?" said Ron. Although Teddy could not see those conversing, he would bet his uncle was winking at Harry.

There was a sigh and then his godfather said, "It's not that... even I haven't heard much of anything about what happened in America prior to Babbit being kicked out. And our trailing him and his new colleagues over here hasn't shown us much of anything."

"He's recruiting," said Ron.

"Maybe," replied Harry.

"Or he's discussing his latest findings with like-minded academics," said Hermione.

"Yeah, I'm sure he got kicked out of America because he was having too many academic discussions," muttered Ron.

"Harry and the Aurors have been tailing him for a reason," said Ginny. "A good reason I'm sure he will elaborate on…"

"There have been a lot of rumors flying around and unfortunately half the time our job seems to be looking into the mean-spirited wizard that cursed his neighbor's dog," Harry said.

Ron added, "Or some bugger who thinks he's going to take a Muggle toast warmer and turn it into the next self-cooking wand."

"Toaster Ron," said Hermione wearily, "and all of these silly things you have to investigate hopefully should show you that James Babbit is probably nothing like the stories that are being made of him."

"I wouldn't care if he was working at the Hogs Head or somewhere," Ron cut back, "but Llewellyn has him teaching at Hogwarts!"

Teddy gasped out loud at this. He covered his mouth with his hands and ducked his head below the fern, as if the plant could somehow hide him from the world. Strangely though, the fern seemed to want no part of it. The bush's thousands of little branches immediately started to wriggle as if they were shocked by lighting. Before he knew it, the fern's arms had wrapped around his own arms and legs and, with a rolling wave of the plant, lifted him head over heels into the dirt. Groaning and looking up, he found himself staring at the grinning face of Victoire.

"How?" he asked his cousin while rubbing his lower back.

"I hope you are not hurt. I only meant to find you."

"He's been through worse than that," replied Ron as he and everyone else from the kitchen had come outside to find out the source of the noise. Hermione put her hand out to Victoire who smiled sweetly back at her and handed her the wand.

"You are going to be the one to beat in charms," she said. "Now go wake your parents up- I think their nap time is done."

Victoire walked away, glancing back once at Teddy, who was taking a long time to get up.

All in all, Teddy didn't mind having the riot act read to him by Hermione- or by Ron or Ginny. They all seemed to enjoy a bit of rebelliousness and mayhem. He did not like the look, however, that his godfather had on his face at the moment.

"How much did you hear?" he asked.

Teddy admitted what he had heard to the adults. Harry and Ron exchanged a look and then Harry motioned to Teddy that the two of them were going to go for a walk.

They had gone a hundred feet through the Burrow's chaotic garden when Harry said. "Teddy, I know you are just starting to test the limits of your metamorphmagus abilities and I know you're not typically a nosy kid but…" Harry stopped and stared at him, "if you keep doing stuff like this it's going to catch up to you."

Teddy nodded seriously at him. Generally when adults say stuff like this they were just trying to make kids behave- but Teddy knew that his godfather was thinking of Teddy's horrifying afternoon running around the Goblin-made mazes underneath Hogwarts. Teddy had changed his appearance from one enemy to the next to stay alive. He had nearly given himself away many times that afternoon and he still cringed some nights thinking about how many terrible things could have happened had one thing or another turned out differently.

"I know that you aren't looking for trouble Teddy, but you seem to have the same knack that we had at your age for wandering into conversations meant for far older and more experienced wizards."

The two were walking again. Harry was idly floating a sunflower around in circles as the gnomes, returning from their banishment, stopped in their tracks to stare.

"Why is the headmaster having a political exile teach at school?" he asked.

Harry sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. "You know I can't tell you about that."

Harry pointed his wand upwards and the sunflower soared high into the sky before breaking apart into dozens of pieces and snowing down on the now annoyed gnomes.

"If you're tracking him, then there must be a reason," Teddy said.

"Whatever that reason is- is not your concern," Harry said somewhat curtly. "You know if I thought you or any of the students were in danger then I would intervene."

"In time though-" Teddy started to ask but then stopped himself. He knew immediately that he had said the wrong thing as his godfather's expression had turned grim.

"I didn't mean," he started to say, but Harry was shaking his head.

"Teddy- last spring you were incredibly brave and selfless. I can't believe how long you and your friends trudged around down there. You fought so many Goblins and they are much stronger than most people realize. Still you should never have been in that situation to begin with."

There was a fierce look on his face now, "We took the defenses to the castle for granted. We took a lot of things for granted. Your headmistress and I will not let anything like that happen again."

Teddy felt terrible for bringing up the subject and could just nod.

"I know you are worried that everyone will be expecting you to be a hero from now on. Or, at least, you feel like you now need to have Harry Potter-styled adventures each year."

Teddy smiled but didn't say anything to this.

Harry nodded and then continued, "Which, despite you being heroic, Teddy, does not mean that you are expected, or for that matter, wished, to be a hero again... As you know, we would like you to have the most safe, non-eventful, and normal schooling possible..."

"Yeah, I know that," Teddy replied.

While it was true that he knew that his family didn't want him involved in any dangerous situations, Teddy had left unsaid the point that he had made dozens of times already, "I never looked for trouble in the first place. Trouble found me!"

Harry seemed to be reading this thought though, as he stopped and sighed again. "I'll level with you, Teddy. I'll tell you my opinion of your new professor if you at least promise to let me do my job in keeping an eye on him. And my job is easiest when I don't have to worry about a well-meaning but reckless little godson blowing my cover."

The accusation rankled a bit as he honestly hadn't considered following the new professor around. Still though, he was very curious, and so he nodded.

"I think that your new professor is probably trying to recruit people at these meetings that we've gone to. He is a brilliant man who clearly has put a lot of time into his work and is trying to find the right group to share it with."

"What is his research about?" asked Teddy. He had been wondering what sort of promising and politically troublesome work an academic might get in.

"Muggle Studies..." said Harry. "And I don't know any more than that."

* * *

Two weeks later, Teddy once again found himself having a quiet talk with his godfather. They were among many other families on Platform 9 and ¾ waiting for the Hogwarts Express. To his credit, Harry had waited for Teddy's Grandmother, Andromeda Tonks, to talk to another friend of her's before pulling him aside again to question him

"So you remember our talk, Mr Lupin? That you won't be sneaking off this year on whatever whim that may call you?"

Teddy rolled his eyes at this. "You make it sound like that's all I do."

Harry laughed, "Not all, but I have a fair idea what it's like there. And any other year, I wouldn't be such a prat about this sort of thing. This year though... It's a different sort of year."

It was the type of understatement that he had come to expect from Harry. Judging from the level of auror security at the platform (which had been attacked by Goblins no less than three times over the summer) Teddy expected that Hogwarts would be in some sort of lock-down.

"I have no intention to sneak around," Teddy repeated, "No plans for it."

"Don't think I'm going to let you get away with that," said Harry with a small smile on his face. "Give me some credit Teddy. Just promise me that you won't investigate the new Muggle Studies teacher ok?"

Teddy sighed but nodded.

Harry who had been bending over to keep the words private, stood up, and ruffled Teddy's hair. "I think I will sleep a little easier now," he said.

"And why is that?" asked Teddy's Grandmother.

Harry shook his head. "I got Teddy to promise to not look for trouble this year."

"We'll see about that," she said. She straightened Teddy's tie. "'You're to work harder on your studies this year."

"Yes Gran."

"And you are not to go looking for any trouble."

"Yes Gran."

"Don't 'yes Gran' me young man," she said as she gave him a stern look. They both held it for a moment before giving up and laughing. "I mean it though Teddy- listen to your Godfather- you've proven yourself enough for seven school years already, alright darling?"

Teddy was beginning to get annoyed with all this fussing over him. Hadn't he proved the previous year that he wasn't a delicate little baby? Still he understood their concern and couldn't really blame people for expecting him to act as his cousin Violet would put it, "as a heroic idiot."

He looked around the platform for Violet and the rest of his friends. The platform was bustling with families, but this year there were also workers who were repairing parts of the platform that Goblins had recently damaged. Construction crews seemed oblivious to the many families streaming through as they levitated large stones and crossbeams into place. Also at the edges of the platform and scattered here and there were two dozen uniformed Auror's who would be guarding the area. Teddy worried that he would have to board the train before he saw any of his friends.

This worry was short lived though as he spotted Dewey and his father walking over. Dewey looked like he had stretched out over the summer. Teddy couldn't tell if it was because his friend was taller or if it was because his dad seemed to have a firm grip on one of his shoulders but it seemed like he was walking differently.

"Hey Mate!" Teddy called out to him.

"Teddy," Dewey said. His voice was much lower than the last time Teddy had heard it and Dewey's face reddened at Teddy's surprise.

"You've shot up in the past month," said his grandmother ignoring the embarrassed look on Dewey's face. She wasn't joking as Dewey and Kai had visited for a week earlier in the summer and the boy did appear to have grown since then.

"Maybe," said Dewey still blushing a bit.

"He's taking after my wife's side of the family," replied Mr. Diggory. He still hadn't taken his other hand off of Dewey's shoulder. "Even Cedric wasn't this tall at his age. Eats like a rabbit though- strangest thing."

Teddy looked up at Mr. Diggory in surprise at hearing his deceased son's name, but Dewey didn't seem to notice. He wasn't sure but it looked like his friend was looking at the train with something like longing.

"Taller than those nasty creatures at least. That's a benefit," said Amos Diggory who squeezed Dewey's shoulder once again.

"And why is that?" asked Andromeda.

Amos smiled, "after what those four went through last year- they can use all the extra pounds that they can get. And that reminds me..." he looked down at his jacket where he was digging through his pockets, oblivious to the glare Andromeda was giving him.

"What they need is better protection at that school- not to chase after any Goblins," said Andromeda.

"Yes Gran," said Teddy automatically. He grinned when he realized she was chastising someone else.

Amos, having found a couple of galleons handed them over to his son.

"Well, of course I don't want anything like that to happen," he said. He looked at Andromeda and then back at his son. "We don't want you to chase after goblins you know."

Dewey sighed. "I know Dad."

"Wotcher guys!" a voice said and Dewey barely turned his head in time to see Kai shoot forward at him. Dewey jumped out of the way and Kai shot right past him towards Teddy and Andromeda. Just as he was about to crash, his body froze in midair. Only his eyes could move, and they glanced down at his hands which were immobilized inches from Teddy's chest.

"Kai!" called his older sister, Cho Chang, as she ran up to them. She pointed her wand at her brother and muttered the counter curse that released him.

"What did I tell you about that thing? You're not taking muggle carts with you to school."

"It's a skateboard" Kai muttered. He picked the bright red skateboard off the ground and held it out for his friends to look at.

"Did that thing?" Dewey began...

"Shoot some flames out?" Kai said excitedly. "Yeah I figured out some charms for this over the summer."

Andromeda and Amos were looking at Kai with disapproving expressions. Cho on the other hand seemed livid.

"Give me that now," she said holding out her hand before Kai reluctantly handed her the skateboard. "And if we hear any reports from Flitwick that you managed to sneak another one into school somehow..."

"That's my only one, Cho" Kai replied angrily. "Isn't Gabe waiting in the car?"

The two siblings seemed tenser around each other than usual and Teddy was now suddenly ready to leave. Apparently Dewey felt the same way as he too was hugging his dad and then making his way to the train.

"Remember what I said Teddy- and your Godfather too," Andromeda called.

Teddy nodded from the entrance of the train.

"Have a brilliant year," she added.

Teddy nodded and then waited for Kai who had just said a quick goodbye to his sister to walk past him. With one last look at his grandmother and godfather, Teddy smiled and then turned to follow his friends onto the train.

* * *

The train was already crowded as the three friends made their way through the long corridor.

"Either of you see Violet?" Teddy asked as he peeked into each compartment window. He recognized many of the students who smiled and waved back at him.

"I reckon she probably wouldn't want to say hi to us out there with her mom around," replied Kai. He was also looking into each compartment but he seemed disappointed as they walked past each one and evidently did not discover the person he was looking for.

"Looking for someone?" Teddy asked.

Kai blinked in surprise and was about to answer when he stopped. "Violet!" he said happily, seeing her through the compartment window. He knocked on the glass a few times until she looked up.

Teddy opened the door to greet her and the three boys tumbled in. Violet had a book open in her lap. "Hi guys," she said. She turned her head to the bench to their left and the boys noticed that Stephen White, a Slytherin in their year, was already sitting there.

"Budge over," said Kai as he plopped down next to Stephen. "So how has the summer been Vi?"

Her eyes narrowed at Kai's entrance but she resumed her smile at Teddy and Dewey.

"I'm sorry I didn't respond to your letters," she said, looking guilty. "I did manage to read them- eventually," she added the last word at the end and then shared a look of annoyance with Stephen.

` "Your mom kept mail from you?" asked Teddy who had taken a seat across from Stephen and Kai. "That sounds loony."

"It was more like, she kept us so busy that the owl's had a hard time finding us."

"You must have gone really far away if the owl's couldn't reach you," said Dewey.

One of Violet's eyebrows had raised just a bit at first seeing the much taller Hufflepuff boy. She did not react in any visible way though to his suddenly deep voice.

"We took the Carousel," she replied indifferently. Teddy and the other boys were impressed with this. He doubted that anyone else at school had ridden in the transcontinental carriage pulled by massive winged horses.

"Anyway, I appreciated it. I wish I could have been around with you guys at Teddy's."

"Oh it wasn't anything big- just getting flying lessons from Harry Potter and hanging out with some Veela," said Kai.

Teddy rolled his eyes at this.

"How was your summer, Stephen?" said Dewey politely.

Stephen, who had seemed a bit annoyed at the three boys' entrance, had seemed to relax in the conversation following. "It was alright. Thankfully Violet's mother doesn't seem to... err... disapprove of me the same way she does with others."

"Your mom let you speak to Stephen, but not us?" said Teddy. He must have looked hurt because Violet was glaring at Stephen.

"I don't particularly care who my mother approves or disapproves of, but during the holidays, I don't have much of a choice but to do what she says," she said still looking at Stephen.

Dewey cut in, "Did you really only bring the one skateboard, Kai?"

Kai grinned. "Yeah, but I'm not the only one that was bringing one- plus I hear that there is a wicked new place in Hogsmede that's selling Muggle stuff..."

Teddy and Dewey exchanged a look, but surprisingly it was Stephen who said what everyone was thinking. "Second year's don't get to go to Hogsmede," he said, and then added, "plus I doubt anyone will be going as long as the rebellions keep happening."

"I've got a plan," said Kai confidently. He smiled broadly and then looked like he was about to start explaining himself, but Teddy suddenly remembered his conversation with Harry.

"There's a new teacher," he gushed out.

Violet looked back at him impassively. "You just heard? Father told me about that last year."


	2. Chapter 2 Sorting of Sorts

**Chapter 2: Sorting of Sorts**

"He what?" said Teddy. He must have said this quite loudly as everyone in the compartment was staring at him. He was shocked though at how calmly his cousin had relayed the news of the new professor. Maybe for once he knew something that she did not.

"I found out when the school year ended," said Violet. "My dad suggested it to the headmistress."

"How does your dad know him?" Teddy asked.

"Him?" asked Violet confused.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" said Kai.

"The new Potions professor" Stephen filed in. "Muriel Seavelle."

Teddy frowned. He remembered Professor Slughorn suggesting that he would retire after the previous school year but hadn't thought about it since. Apparently there was more than one new professor this year.

"Oh," Teddy said. "What is she like?"

Violet shrugged. "I've only met her a few times."

"Who were you talking about?" asked Stephen.

"The new Muggle Studies professor," Teddy replied. Both of the Slytherins were looking at him oddly. He was surprised when Kai said, "So what?"

"What?" Teddy replied.

"Muggle Studies is an elective. We can't even take it if we wanted to. Not that anyone would."

Violet raised an eyebrow at Kai. "I thought you were Mr. Muggle?"

Everyone chuckled at this as Kai's face went red. "Muggle's have some cool stuff," he shot back. "But that doesn't mean I want to take Muggle Studies- that's like studying Care of Magical Creatures or something."

Teddy was about to argue with this but he realized that nothing good would come from him seeming to be fixated on the new professor. He shut his mouth and stared out the window, anxious already for the new school year to begin.

The conversation and joking amongst the group winded down and soon everyone found themselves trying to read, or in Teddy's case staring out at the countryside. Mercy and Sung Hee both stopped by to say hi to everyone and then pulled Dewey away to visit with their fellow Hufflepuff's. Kai muttered something about needing to find a few people and excused himself from the carriage. Eventually Stephen, who had been quietly reading, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

"So how was your summer Violet?" asked Teddy.

She looked up from her book. "It was alright... I got to spend a week with my father."

Teddy, who had never spoken to Draco Malfoy but knew what he thought of himself and his family could only tightly smile and nod at this. He knew how little Violet had previously seen her dad as well as her little brother, Scorpius, and that getting any time was something special.

"So you're getting better at Metamorphmagi?" Violet asked.

Teddy smiled more broadly at this and then concentrated on Violet's face, shrinking his head, his nose, his eyes, thinning his lips, and then making his hair into a jet black bob with a curtain of bangs.

"Charming," she said.

Teddy concentrated again and suddenly Kai's round face was smirking back at her. "Wotcher Vi- I'm going to sneak into Hogsmede to buy barny Muggle things."

She laughed at this but then looked more serious. "Why were you so worried when I said my father knew the new professor?"

Teddy, his normal face resumed, frowned back at her. He glanced over to make sure Stephen was still asleep before whispering, "Harry's worried about him. He and the auror's have been tracking the people the new professor is meeting with."

Violet, to Teddy's surprise, did not seem fazed by this. "The auror's track lots of suspected people- I believe someone is still assigned to my father."

Teddy shook one of his hand's dismissively. "That's different."

"And why is that?" she shot back.

"Well he was..." Teddy didn't know what he wanted to say and knew he didn't want to get into an argument about her dad anyway.

Apparently Violet didn't either as she changed the subject. "Do you have any idea why they might be following this new professor?" she asked him.

"Something about his troubles in America. He's a political exile," but he did not say any more than this as a young girl had walked right into their compartment unannounced.

"Are you Teddy Lupin?" she said looking straight into his eyes.

"Yes," he said back to her uncertainly.

"Good, I just thought you should know the Gryfindor's are fighting and we could probably use your help."

Teddy having never met this girl before was confused why she was referring to herself as a fellow Gryfindor but he got up to follow her out.

"Think," Violet called out softly as he closed the compartment door behind him. Teddy wanted to ask the young girl what exactly was going on but upon hitting the hallway she turned and sprinted ahead. Teddy yelled, "slow down" at her back but she did not turn around and he reluctantly started to chase after her.

Up ahead there were a number of people jamming the corridor, everyone yelling over everyone else. Upon reaching the edge of the people Teddy started to grab for his wand but thought better of it. Instead he ducked through the edges of a few people closer to the confusion.

"Give that back" yelled a very familiar voice. Teddy hoped there was another small wizard on the train that somehow spoke identically like Kai. His hopes were dashed though upon budging his way to the center of the circle where Kai was furiously pointing his wand at another wizard.

"It's illegal, and if you don't put that wand down this instant you will be very sorry indeed," the taller wizard that Teddy vaguely recalled as a fifth year Slytherin had answered. He had not moved to grab his own wands as his hands were holding onto whatever he had taken from Kai, which appeared to be the size of a quaffle but was tightly wrapped in a towel.

"Who are you to be telling me what to do?" argued Kai.

"I'm a prefect," he answered coolly, his eyes glancing again at the wand pointed at him and that back at Kai's.

"And what? You're already spying on people?" Kai spat out.

"Put the wand down now," the boy replied.

Teddy glanced around and was surprised to see a number of his classmates nursing small injuries around him. He noticed that the young girl he had followed had her wand at her side but she was tapping it excitedly against her leg.

"Kai, you'll get it back at school," said Teddy. "Put your wand down."

Kai seemed to take the first breath in a while as the red in his face slowly decreased. He glanced at Teddy and lowered his wand to his side.

"Smart thinking Ravenclaw," the Prefect said with a tiny smirk. "And to think Lupin would be the one to talk some sense into someone."

Kai glared back at him but said nothing.

The prefect glanced around as if seeing the rest of the mob for the first time. "Alright, back to your compartments everyone."

Teddy would have liked to go with his fellow Gryfindors and find out just what exactly happened but he saw that Kai had not moved from his previous position and was still staring angrily at the prefect. Teddy grabbed his shoulders and pulled him around, back into the direction of their compartment.

Kai had refused to speak to anyone upon returning to their compartment, so the remainder of the train ride had been in an uncomfortable silence. Teddy was happy when the train finally did stop at Hogsmede. He grabbed his magically lightened trunk and then, to her protestations, grabbed Violets too.

Teddy noticed, as many of the student's around him also seemed to notice, the skeletal black thestrals pawing nervously at the ground. He was relieved when no one in his carriage, including Kai said anything about them. It was strange, he supposed, that the headmistress would still be using the deathly creatures after the school's shared tragedy of the past spring. Perhaps they did not have any other means of transporting the many students. He glanced over at Violet and Stephen White who both appeared to be staring right over the thestral's head as if they weren't there.

He shook his own head a bit and then searched the gap in the trees above for the towering spires of his castle. And there it was, commanding and ancient on the edge of the lake- Hogwarts. He heard a few cheers up ahead and couldn't help but grin. He was finally back.

The four tables of the great hall had quickly filled with students. The Gryfindor table seemed especially boisterous and happy. Teddy took his seat between Colin and Albus who each apparently had been at the brawl on the train.

"Some firsties were messing around with us, knocking on our window and just being all around prats," Albus said.

"We left our compartment to talk to them and a chocolate frog comes out of nowhere and smacks Julie in the forehead," continued Colin.

Teddy glanced over at Julie, a Gryffindor in his year that he hadn't spoken to much the previous term. She noticed him and smiled back.

"She's definitely prettier this year by the way," said Albus.

"Right" Colin agreed. "Anyway we start yelling, and the kids start yelling, one of them pushed him," he said pointing at Albus "and suddenly everyone is at each other."

"None of them knew any magic," said Colin. "It was ridiculous and..." he noticed the long line of first year students gathering at the back of the hall and motioned at a few kids near the back of the line, "...there they are."

The first years were assembling in a long line. Each, as Teddy recalled, checking with those around them to find out where they stacked up alphabetically. The boys that Albert indicated seemed to be avoiding the rest of their class. Each of the boys in the little group had long curly hair that crowded their eyes. There robes were obviously a few sizes too small as their Muggle jeans and shoes underneath were clearly visible. They scowled at Professor Rai who had moved past them evidently telling the line to get sorted out as the ceremony was about to start.

"So what does Kai have to do with all of this?" asked Teddy.

Professor Rai had made his way to the far end of the staff table where a stool with the sorting hat was perched. As he carried the hat across the floor it seemed to move ever so slightly back and forth, as if observing the entire student body.

"No idea," said Albus. "One minute we are fighting and the next that idiot has his wand pointed at a prefect."

Someone down the table shushed him as the professor had left and the hat appeared about ready to sing its song. There was a ripping noise at the brim of the hat and then,

_The only school I ever loved..._

_ Asked me to evaluate the make_

_ Of every young wizard and witch_

_ And then to formulate a list, I was to inquire and insist, _

_ put them in houses where they'll be, _

_ like-minded souls- similarities..._

_ the clever studying all night,_

_ the brave together in every fight,_

_ the cunning group they whisper on,_

_ the steadfast fellows- a loyal bond._

_ But this arrangement couldn't last_

_ as the school did suffer so_

_ and the houses seemed so separate and alone_

_ So I challenged you last year_

_ And you proved my worst fears wrong_

_ Now we've moved onto somewhere new..._

_ What's next? Will I sort you? No, I say that's through._

_ Instead you tell me where to go_

_ I'll just confirm it should be so_

_ you think where you belong, _

_ be honest and be strong_

_ and then let me know, I wont judge your ego_

_ The warning that I'll give,_

_ especially to the older kids_

_ is to just wait, be patient, and be respectful._

_ No matter how lazy they seem, _

_ or cruel they might be,_

_ or whiny, insolent, or a bore-_

_ because we all grow up._

_ You just wait, things will change_

_ And soon you'll understand them more._

_ You've been warned._

There were several moments after the hat stopped singing before anyone clapped. Teddy noticed that while the professors were leading the applause, each of them had confused and wary looks on their heads as if resigned to another year of trouble from the sorting hat.

"Weird" muttered Colin.

Professor Llewelyn stood up and the scattered applause ended immediately.

"First years, please approach the hat when your name is called for your... collaborative sorting."

The first years were staring at one another worriedly, some of them searching the various tables as if the correct answer was waiting somewhere in the seats.

"So they just decide where to go and they get sent there?" asked Albus.

Teddy shrugged. He wasn't sure what the hat had in mind but he remembered its kindness and help, reluctant as it was, in the tunnels last spring. And while it seemed that the hat played games with people's minds last year, it had also correctly sorted the unlikeliest of many of the houses.

"I'm sure it won't let anyone do anything they will regret," Teddy said.

He wasn't sure how long his fellow students had taken to get sorted the year before. Time had moved so very quickly while he was nervously waiting his turn. And then, when he took his seat under the hat, it had seemed to take forever with his own sorting. These first years however all seemed to be having a thorough discussion with the hat. Many of them shaking their heads heatedly, using their hands to emphasize something they were saying silently to the hat.

Byron Clippingham, a chubby, grinning boy, was the first Gryffindor to be selected. He actually stopped and waved at the entire table as they clapped wildly for him. There was laughter and then Vin Whelply, one of their new prefects, yelled, "Oi- park it Clippy."

Byron took the new name in good humor and was soon sitting on the other side of Albus, clapping and whistling as loud as anyone else to the next three Gryffindor's, two mousy brown haired twins, Dortha and Eleanor Fensworth, and a even tinier Indian boy, Suchin Name, as they took their places at the table.

In the meantime Teddy had taken stock of the staff table, which had a few new faces that he did not recognize. A small man, who resembled a dwarf, seated next to Hagrid at the far side of the table, ate his food and did not talk to the professor's around him. He shifted around uncomfortably, and looked very much like he wanted to be somewhere else. Teddy wondered if the tiny professor knew that taking the job meant having to eat with hundreds of people on a daily basis. The other new faces, seated on either side of Professor Longbottom, were also men. One of them looked young and cunning, with long brown hair that seemed just a shade darker than the full beard that was carefully kept. The other man, also had a beard but it was much bushier and looked somehow lopsided. The man wore narrow rimmed glasses and was deep in conversation with Professor Longbottom who at one point caught Teddy's eye and gave him a quick wink.

"Oppenhoffer, Kaitlin," called Professor Rai.

Teddy stared at the girl that had barged into his compartment earlier that day as she strode over to the chair. She glanced at the Gryffindor house in general before plopping the hat over her head. He couldn't be sure but it seemed like the hat slumped a little in defeat as the little girl was shaking her head adamantly. "Gryffindor," it said in almost a sigh.

Teddy glanced over to the Slytherin table and was not surprised to see Violet smirking at him.

By the end of the sorting Gryffindor picked up four boys and four girls. Teddy hadn't kept close track but it seemed that each of the houses seemed to obtain around that amount owing to a smaller class size this term. He wasn't surprised that less children were being sent to the school considering the violence that fell upon it the previous year. He was surprised though (although ashamed to admit it) that so many student's had freely chosen Slytherin. While the previous year had definitely softened many student's in their distrust and dislike of Salazer's house, Teddy would not have bet that new people would shed the prejudices that easily. Four witches and five wizards though had left the sorting hat with that house as their new home. It was a very unexpected and welcome sight.

Professor Llewelyn, after waiting for the last house to celebrate their newest addition, stood up to address the school. She looked to Teddy like she had taken on a few more wrinkles to her otherwise formidable appearance. Her voice nonetheless was warm and strong,

"Welcome everyone to another year at Hogwarts. It has been a most unusual summer with the renovations to our castle as well as the introduction of several new additions to our faculty."

The student body seemed to notice for the first time some of the new faces at the head tables, some of the 1st and 2nd years even openly pointing at the new professors.

"While we had obviously encountered a major setback last spring, we have made great strides in the interim to make this school stronger and better run than ever before. I am extremely proud of the work our staff has done over the past month, and am excited for what I believe to be a great year in our school's history."

There was applause for this and Llewelyn waited with a smile on her face for a moment.

"Before we enjoy our feast tonight I believe some introductions are in order. Professors Peasegood, Slughorn and Sinastra have all decided to retire after our previous term. Elmore Curr, a longtime contributor to the Transfigure Times as well as guest lecturer, will be our new Transfiguration professor."

There was a polite applause for him as the old professor next to Hagrid pushed himself slowly away from the table before getting to his feet.

"Didn't exactly go for young talent, did they?" said Edan Burns, another one of his roommates, to the various students in his vicinity. He ignored Edan as well as the tiny new professor as he was studying the two remaining men.

"Professor Curr, as a former Hufflepuff, will be assuming those head of house duties."

Most of the Hufflepuff table clapped for their new head of house, although Teddy noticed the Punker first years were talking amongst themselves and seemed to have missed the annoucenent.

Llewelyn continued, "Besides the Hufflepuff house, the Slyterhin house also needed a new head of house. We are honored to have Madame Seavelle filling that position."

There was a surprisingly loud cheer that erupted at this name. Teddy swerved to see the Slytherian's clapping quite forcefully. Violet and Stephen each seemed to be sharing a large smile. They weren't the only one's though as Teddy noticed that various students from all of the other houses had the same delighted expression.

"I see some of you already are familiar with her. Besides overseeing the Slytherin house, Madame will be our new Potions Master as well. Unfortunately she was unable to attend tonight's feast. However, please welcome her apprentice, Fernius Montap".

The man to the left of Professor Longbottom, smiled, and stood up. He bowed slightly to the crowd and then took his seat.

"And lastly, I am pleased to introduce, Dr. James Babbitt."

Teddy had never heard that title before and he guessed few others had as the only applause in the hall seemed to be the polite acknowledge coming from the head table and the scattered reaction of a few prefects. Babbitt however didn't seem perturped by the muted reaction. His lip was curled in a half-smile of sorts as he stood up and glanced in the direction of the headmaster.

"Dr. Babbitt is an esteemed colleague of mine from the time I spent lecturing at the Flamel School in Salem. He has agreed to revamp our Muggle Studies program."

Many students were whispering to one another now. Teddy glanced over at Ravenclaw and found Kai who was smirking at him. He was giving him a strange hand signal with his hand curled in a fist except for his thumb which was pointed at the ceiling. Teddy glanced up but saw only the hundreds of candles floating above his table, when he looked back Kai was laughing at him.

"These new professor's are working with the Auror's, the board of Governor's and myself to ensure that our castle is safer than ever before. Of course, additional security cannot ever be gained without some difficult sacrifices of our entire school."

Her face seemed to settle between her tight smile and a frown as she waited for a moment to scan her gaze across the entire crowd.

"Your heads of house and prefects will go over the various new policies that we have created over the summer. While I know they might seem... restrictive... I assure you that we have spent a good deal of time working to find a happy medium between your happy and productive free time and a well-guarded and secure school."

Professor Longbottom was nodding slightly at this. His gaze seemed to move above Teddy towards somewhere behind him.

"I'm sure after all of this, everyone must be starving. Your school year begins tomorrow, enjoy the feast."

Suddenly the tables were filled with plates of food. Teddy found himself thinking for the first time in a while, how much he had missed the house elf's and their manic cooking sprees.


	3. Chapter 3 New Lessons, New Warnings

**Chapter 3: New Lessons, New Warnings**

_**Hogwarts Regulations **_

_(Due to the current external threat to the wizard society and Hogwarts specifically, the Hogwarts faculty in accordance with the Board of Governor's are instituting the following rules.)_

_There will be no leaving the Hogwarts grounds or entering it without the authorization of the the Headmistress._

_Various parts of the school grounds are off-limits without the authorization of the Headmistress (see map for locations)._

_There will be no activities outside the castle without the authorization of the Headmistress._

_All mail and packages will be searched by the faculty._

_In addition to the previously unacceptable items at Hogwarts, the following are forbidden:_

_Two-way mirrors, Talk Boxes, any Portable Floo Communicator_

_Ward Runes, Ward Breaking Runes, Rubicubes or any similar items_

_Invisibility Cloaks, Brazilian Night Powder, Disillusionment Concoctions_

_These rules go in effect immediately and will remain until further notice. Failure to follow any of the above will result in immediate talks with your Head of House and the Headmistress. We appreciate your cooperation with these policies- please refer any suspicious activities to your prefects. Together we will ensure that Hogwarts is the safest place in the Wizarding world._

Teddy wasn't surprised by the new rules imposed by the Headmistress. The Goblins that had snuck in during the previous spring had done so by exploiting the gaps in the school's borders. His Uncle Bill, who had worked along with other curse breakers to install the powerful "orange wards" had suggested the school would take precautions. "The only way to fully ward something as large and fluid as Hogwarts is to make certain areas into dead zones," he had said. Teddy wasn't sure what a dead zone was but he had a pretty good idea of what would happen to people that challenge them.

"What's a Rubicube?" Kaitlin Oppenhoffer asked.

"Ward detector," Vin answered shortly. He had been fielding questions (mostly from the new Gryffindor's) for ten minutes or so and seemed about at his wit's end.

"I think our wands can do that," Kaitlin said.

"Maybe," he allowed through gritted teeth. "Anything else?"

Colin raised his hand.

"Hayes?"

"Does this mean Quiddich is still on?"

Vin frowned. "I wish I could tell you- all I know is that it's still being discussed."

Many of the older students gathered around made noises of outrage at this. Teddy was also disappointed as he had planned to try out for a reserve Beater spot this year. Still he was surprised when Colin nearly shouted back, "It's being discussed?"

"Are you deaf Hayes? I don't know any more than that."

"Well that's great," Colin said. He had his arms crossed and was looking away from the prefect.

"Ok then," said Vin. "I'm around if people need clarification on any of these policies. It shouldn't be that difficult to follow them though- just don't go skulking around and you should be fine. And if you see anything that looks suspicious let me or Sarah know, ok?"

Sarah Robbins, the other new prefect, nodded at this. She was almost as tall as Vin but unlike his large, egg shaped frame, she was nearly rail thin and pale.

"You'll get your new schedules at breakfast- help out the first years with where to go," he added looking around at the older students.

"Don't be afraid to ask if you don't know where you need to go," Sarah added. She had finally seemed to gain some volume to her voice as the first few things she had said the entire house had to move forward a foot or so to hear her.

"Oh, and one more thing," Vin said. "The fourth year Muggle Studies elective is full- there's no point trying to get in. I don't know about third or fifth though- I suggest taking to Professor Longbottom at breakfast."

Teddy glanced around at the older kids in surprise. None of them seemed particularly interested in the news. Was the prefect being serious? It seemed so as he said nothing more and turned to leave.

Teddy's classes were essentially the same as they had been the previous term. The professor's seemed to rather like the double-classes and had lined up the houses with the same classes. Teddy had Charms and DADA with the Hufflepuffs, Transfiguration, Astronomy, and History of Magic with Ravenclaw, and Herbology and Potions with Slytherin. He put his schedule down to eat breakfast when a wand smacked against his forearm.

He turned to see Kaitlin swishing her wand around, oblivious it would seem to her hitting him.

"Need help" He asked.

She was flinging her wand in a sort of squiggly "x" and whispering something.

"Kaitlin?"

She stopped twisting her wand, "Do you know how to do the protego charm?"

"No," he said. "Why?"

"Those Hufflepuff's said they were going to bat bogey me and I was hoping to figure a way to block it back at them," she said as she resumed twirling the wand back and forth.

"Which Hufflepuffs?" he asked.

"The punkers," she muttered.

Albert who had been watching from across the table nodded at this. He pointed out the same scraggly haired kids that had gotten in a fight with them on the train.

"They don't like Gryffindors?" Teddy asked as he examined one of the kids who had bright red and white striped patches sewn onto various parts of his robe.

"They're prats," he said again.

There was a squeal from one end of the hall and then suddenly dozens of owls swooped into the room dropping letters and packages amongst the many tables.

Two different owl's dropped down next to Teddy with letter's attached to their legs. They stared at him and waited for him to offer them some bacon before hooting softly and lifting their legs for him to access the letters. The first letter did not have an address but he knew who it was from immediately by the untidy scrawl on the parchment.

_Teddy- Hope your trip to school went well. I don't mean to alarm you, but you will probably be hearing some upsetting news soon. Don't forget your promise to me. I'm closer to this school than you might realize and am investigating every lead. Please obey the Headmistress's new policies and go to Neville if you think something is about to happen. Your grandmother will write soon with all the family happenings- also I will likely be at Hogwarts sometime soon. If you need to reach me, don't forget that a number of people are reading these letters- CONSTANT VIGILANCE and all that._

_Love,_

_Harry_

Teddy instinctively looked around him. Everyone was eating their breakfast and chatting however like nothing had happened. He's closer to the school than Teddy would realize? Did that mean he was in Hogsmede? In the Forbidden Forest? The letter suggested once again that his Godfather believed that he had some sort of death wish upon his head, that he was going to go by the scant little information he had already received and start wandering around the castle to try and bring someone down by himself. How many times had he tried to explain to his family that half of the time last year he hadn't been looking for trouble. That he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly had happened that might provoke him into doing this.

He frowned at the letter, wondering where he should address his response to, although the school owls would surely be able to find someone like his Godfather based on the name alone.

He also knew who the second letter was from before opening it having received a number of similar ones throughout the summer. The white muggle envelope looked strange wrapped around the Owl's leg like a piece of parchment. Chloe had attached three stamps this time, although he wasn't certain why, as she was sending them to the same owlery for wizard shipping.

_Dear Teddy,_

_September 1__st__ is only a few days away and I imagine when you receive this you will already be at Hogwarts... I have to admit I really missed the castle and the people the other day when I was thinking about how I wouldn't be attending this year. You mentioned how Hagrid kept his snapped wand after he left the school (they didn't snap mine thank god) and sometimes I try a few spells when I'm all alone just to relive the old memories. Nothing happened, my powers really seem to be gone, but it makes me feel better all the same._

_I'm sorry Teddy, I didn't mean to write to you when I'm in such a funk. It's been wonderful seeing my old friends again. I can go to the movies and text people at any time (that probably makes no sense, I will show you if you can ever come to visit). Things have returned to the way they were and that's really nice in a lot of ways. I miss you though, and wonder sometimes what my future would have been like. _

_Anyway I hope school is much less eventful this year. Those attacks you mentioned sound terrifying and I worry that they might not be seeing those Goblin as much of a threat as they should be. Wizards, as clever as they are, seemed to take a lot of things for granted. Keep safe Teddy. Let me know how everyone is doing soon._

_Love,_

_Chloe._

Teddy reread the letter and then tucked it alongside the other one in his knapsack. He hadn't thought about her in a few days and now felt ashamed for beginning his year so easily without her. It was strange that she sounded so sad at not being back at Hogwarts considering how at peace she had seemed at giving him that exact news the previous spring. Of course back then she was in what they had initially considered her death-bed and was still reeling from an attack that could just as easily have been aimed at Teddy himself.

"Not hungry mate?" asked Kai from behind him.

Although students from other houses traditionally did not linger at other people's tables, Kai seemed nonchalant perched next to Teddy. He was examining Teddy's plate and seemed to be in a much better mood than the previous evening.

"I'll get to this," Teddy replied.

"You better hurry, we have Transfiguration in fifteen minutes," he said.

Teddy offered the plate over to Kai who grinned and took the bacon. "I'll save you a seat, ok? I have to tell you something."

Teddy nodded and then pushed his plate away. Next to him, Kaitlin was still swishing her wand and muttering "Protego."

"You want to learn to make a shield?" he asked her.

She looked up and nodded eagerly. He noticed that she seemed to have the same black muggle paint around her eyes that Chloe had used in the previous year but she reminded him of someone else. He wasn't sure who, almost as if it was someone he had seen in a crowd or a dream, but she seemed very much like someone he knew.

He pointed at Kai who was walking back to the Ravenclaw table.

"Make friends with one of them, they're keen on telling people stuff that they've already read up on."

She rolled her eyes at this but nodded. "I just thought you would know," she said.

"I don't," he replied, "most second years wouldn't though."

As he was leaving he turned back with a smile. "Also from what I hear, those Hufflepuff''s don't know any magic yet either."

Teddy did not get a chance to talk to Kai during Transfiguration. He barely made it into his saved seat before Professor Curr (who actually seemed to resemble an aged house elf in his shrunken size and slight hobble) began to lecture.

"Please copy the following syllabus into your course notes" he said as the previously empty chalkboard behind him suddenly was covered in an outline for the entire year. "Our goal for the final class in May is that everyone in the class can do this."

He summoned a globe from the other side of the room. Teddy, along with several students, gulped at this feat.

Professor Curr seemed puzzled by the class's shock and then chuckled, "No, not summoning, I would guess you don't have to worry about that until your OWL practicals, and that's for your _Charms_ final."

He hovered the globe in the front of the room so that it spun very slowly on it's access.

"Nor will I ask you to perform an engorgement charm," he said with a wink as he cast the charm on the globe which tripled in size so that even those in the back of the class could make out the various mountain ranges and seas from around the world.

"What we will be building up to throughout the year will be the ability to manipulate the surface of objects, down to a fairly subtle level."

He swished his wand again and the continents began to blend into the color of the water while the oceans all took on the greenish-brown of the land. He swished it again and the various mountain ranges from around the world spiked up while the various deep stretches of the oceans sunk inward. He swished it a third time and the continents disappeared before being jumbled all over the globe. North America was placed at the very top of the globe while Europe seemed bonded to Australia.

"Can anyone tell me what I've done here- beyond a fairly novel parlor trick?"

Several students offered suggestions for this including, "color modification", "surface stretching", and "swapping charms".

Curr let everyone give their answer but did not comment. Eventually he pointed his wand at the globe again and muttered something that made it spin quite quickly. It spun faster and faster until it fell to the ground and in its place a quaffle bounced once against the floor.

"This week's homework," the professor said with a smile as he slowly bent down to reach the ball, "is to list in an essay the essential differences between charm magic and transfiguration. Six inches by Friday. Please stop by if you are having any problems."

Kai waited until after class to speak to Teddy.

"I spoke to Dewey- we're going to meet in the library tomorrow night. Vi's bringing Stephen White."

He glanced at Teddy when he said this with a hopeful look but Teddy did not respond.

"Anyway that's not what I wanted to talk to you about," he said, bringing his voice down to the whisper. "Caicus didn't report me but he didn't give it back either."

"Caicus?" Asked Teddy?

"The Slytherin prefect..." he said.

"Oh" Teddy replied. "So what happened on the train?"

Kai waved his hand dismissively, "Nothing. I was talking to Guy about the charms that he used last year to levitate that bike when some of your Gryffindor's got in a fight. Caicus must have been on duty and saw me on his way over."

Teddy nodded. He guessed Kai hadn't exactly been discreet with whatever the mysterious item was, that he likely carried it with him to see what was going on in the hallway.

"Anyway I was going to ask you to talk to Violet..." he said in a much more polite tone than usual. "I would," he added, "but she would be more likely to listen to you."

Teddy frowned. "What is it?"

Kai grinned. "It's our new and improved Marauder's Map."

Teddy couldn't believe his ears. "You're putting me on," he said.

"It's not the same thing exactly- but I think I can figure out what it's missing and it should do everything the other one did and more."

They paused at the staircase that was swinging from one landing to the other. Kai had a similar grin that he greeted them with at the train station- it seemed almost wolf-like to Teddy, a choice of words, of course, that he would never admit to anyone.

"So will you talk to Violet?" Kai asked.

Teddy didn't say anything to this.

"Speak of the devil." Kai said cheerfully as Violet and Stephen White approached them.

"If you were waiting to tell me about the library tomorrow" Violet said, "I already told Dewey I would be there."

"Already knew that," he told her. He gave Teddy that strange thumbs to the ceiling motion again and then headed off.

"He's getting weirder and weirder," she said.

They walked down the staircase that led into the dungeons, each step seeming to bring a further chill to the air until they were all shivering a bit outside the Potion's lab. A crowd of students were already waiting outside the door.

"I can't believe she's teaching," Nagaeena was saying to Decima. "I mean I can't believe she is teaching here."

Where else she might be teaching, Teddy had no idea. He had never heard of the new professor and had no idea why the Slytherin's seemed so excited by her teaching at Hogwarts. He had asked a few of his Gryffindor's roommates the previous night about it, but none of them knew either.

"Your father told the headmistress to offer her the job" Nagaeena said to Violet.

Violet looked like she was considering her answer but did not get a chance to say anything as the potion door swung open. Fernius Montap, the young man identified as the _Apprentice,_ was examining a sheet of parchment at the front of the classroom. He had a wand held lazily in the direction of the blackboard behind him where a piece of chalk was slowly compiling a list of ingredients and instructions for the class.

Teddy followed Violet and Stephen over to a desk near the front of the class. While a few Gryffindor's had sat along with the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's in their previous classes, he was the only one to do so here. The other Slytherins had immediately sought out the other front tables, each taking out their parchments and quills and becoming unusually still for the upcoming class.

Montap did not look up from the parchment he was looking over. He did not appear fazed that the entire class had already taken their seats and Professor Seavelle had not yet arrived. He continued to work until the blackboard was full of instructions. Only then did he look up.

"Welcome, Gryffindor's and Slytherin's, to Potions Year Two. As the Headmistress mentioned yesterday, my name is Fernius Montap, you may refer to me as Mr. Montap or Fernius if you find yourself daring. Or call me by my middle name if you are resourceful enough to ascertain it." He had nodded slightly to either house when mentioning their respective qualities- but his tone seemed more playful than how professors usually reference the house's noble qualities. He had a quiet and dry way of speaking that reminded Teddy of Violet.

"Madame Seavelle as you no doubt have noticed is predisposed at the moment and has asked me to commence the class. Prior to accepting the professorship, she already had many obligations that will continue to take up some of her time during the school year. I will very likely be filling in for some of you and your fellow student's classes."

He paused at this and seemed to search the faces of the class. Teddy had not had a substitute teacher in the previous year and was somewhat baffled by the news that a new professor would declare up front that she would be absent for parts of the year. Even though Fernius (as he had already decided he would address him if called upon) looked like he was only a few years older than some of the seventh years, his opening remarks and measuring gaze seemed to suggest that he was not a person to take lightly.

"Madame should arrive sometime before the end of class; however, she has instructed me in the interim to lead a catch up exercise of sorts. Please work with those at your table and prepare the following potion on the board" He paused and nodded to someone over Teddy's head. "I'm sorry I haven't learned your names yet."

"Edan Burns, sir. You said this is catch up, but I don't remember working with this potion last year."

Fernius' lips curled up in a slight smile. "And?..."

"And, well... there's no name on that potion," Edan said lamely. "We don't know what we are making."

Fernius glanced back at the potion for a moment as if trying to make sure he had written everything correctly. He turned back to the class and said, "If it helps, you encountered a similar potion last year. Follow the directions and see when things start to become familiar."

Teddy glanced at Violet and Stephen but each was already leafing through their Potions book in search of something.

"If you have any questions, please come see me," said Fernius and with that he went back to his desk.

Stephen White left the table to go gather their supplies, leaving Teddy and Violet to examine their books for notes.

"Do you know what's going on?" Teddy whispered to Violet.

"With this potion?" she asked.

"With everything," Teddy said.

Teddy knew it was a vague question and that Violet would need to address quite a few things in order to catch him up on everything that he had seemed to miss in the start of the school year. He was surprised therefore when she smiled and nodded.

"And?" he asked.

"You're not the most interesting person in the castle anymore," she told him.

It was wonderful timing as she had barely finished the sentence before Madame Seavelle strode into the classroom.


	4. Chapter 4 Troublemakers

**Chapter 4: Troublemakers**

Madame Seavelle did not resemble a Hogwarts Professor- nor did she act like one. She strode into the room, past Fernius and the class, without indicating that she saw any of them and went straight to her desk. Three house elves followed along in her wake, although they did not dress or behave like any house elf Teddy had seen. They each had ruffled white button downs underneath a handsome blue vest that matched their pants. When the professor sat down they immediately began clicking their fingers and making various books, scrolls, and tea appear. Seavelle, for her part, did not pay them any attention, as she simply picked up her quill and began jotting down notes.

She was an extremely beautiful woman, with long chestnut hair that danced along her head as she moved. She had a cashmere shawl draped over her robes, making her look like she had stepped out of a dance for a moment.

The class all stopped what they were doing upon the entrance. Many did not resume again until Fernius coughed loudly at the front of the room.

"You've met her before?" Teddy whispered to Violet.

Violet did not respond, she had quickly got back to work and was currently mashing some beetles into a fine powder.

Teddy glanced around and noticed many of the Gryffindor boys as well as the Slytherins were having a hard time not staring at the new professor. He caught Albert's eye who grinned back at him.

He turned back to the concoction that Violet was now stirring in the cauldron. Stephen who was still flipping through the book seemed vexed. "I don't get it," he said.

"Get what?" Teddy asked.

"I've gone through a dozen potions that she might have assigned. A few share some of the ingredients but none of them look like that," he said, pointing at the pea green potion that burbled and hissed back at them.

"Do you know what it is?" he asked Violet who was still mincing ingredients and monitoring the stirring of the potion. She put her head fairly low to the bowl and sniffed.

"No," she admitted. She wore a determined expression but it was clear that not having any idea of what the potion was, was more annoying to the Slytherins than to Teddy.

Although Madame Seavelle had not moved from her spot since arriving, Fernius was walking around the classroom. He did not seem to be making any suggestions or criticisms of the students but rather was just watching their methods, sometimes not even bothering to peek over and inspect the potion itself.

They had been working like this for nearly a half an hour before there was a crash a few tables over. He pushed his chair back to get a better view and found that Decima was lying face-first over the table. Her books and backpack, which must have been seated on the table, had contributed to the loud noise as they crashed on the ground.

Fernius was over at the desk in an instant. Instead of checking on Decima however, he instead seemed to gravitate to Nagaeena who was leaning over Decima to see if she was ok. Fernius grabbed Nagaeena's arm and guided her back into her chair. He glanced over at the potion and then turned to the class.

"Anyone think their potion is done?" he asked.

Teddy had no idea what had happened but Violet seemed to as she had grabbed both his and Stephen's shirts and led each of them back a few feet from their own potion.

Fernius seemed to have noticed this. "Ms. Parkinson?" he asked.

"I don't know the name of this, but I think it's something close to the draught of living death," she said.

For the first time since her arrival, Madame Seavelle, seemed interested in the events of the classroom. Her deep brown eyes looked straight at Violet.

"I think it's a sleeping potion sir," Violet said, her voice almost a whisper.

Fernius nodded. "Not a very strong one, but it would work better than a calming draught."

Violet gave Teddy a very concerned look. He realized that she had glanced at his hands which were gripped tightly against the end of the table and shaking ever so slightly. He instinctively ran a hand through his hair wondering what color it must be showing. He tried to take slow breaths to calm himself down, but the look Fernius was giving was making that difficult.

"Is there a problem Mr. Lupin?" he said in a calm voice.

Teddy breathed once through his nose and nodded. "I don't understand sir, why you would choose that potion."

Now everyone, including, Madame Seavelle, was staring at him, and he was even more aware that he was probably not in control of his appearance, as he suddenly felt like there was less hair on the sides of his head. He forced himself to stare at Fernius however.

"I can't imagine you," and he nodded over at Seavelle, "or Madame Seavelle, didn't hear about what happened to the school last year."

Fernius did not respond to this.

"I think it's sick," he said.

There was a gasp from several members of his class but he didn't really care if they thought he was being rude. He honestly felt like walking out of the classroom.

Before Fernius could respond to this, Madame Seavelle had walked over and stopped him with a touch to the shoulder. She pointed her wand at the blackboard, so that instead of Fernius's instructions now there was a single quote.

"The magic we crave is always at the limits. Wizards who accept standard explanations will never advance magic"

"Does anyone know how Wizards discovered the 'Draught of Living Death'?" she asked everyone.

When no one responded to this, Seavelle went on, "It was created nearly five hundred years ago by a wizard who, history seems to suggest, was working on an elixir for eternal life. He made an error and nearly killed himself with the new potion- only being pulled back into a conscious state when a friend was able to figure out the antidote nearly a decade later."

She paused, turning to the blackboard and pointed her wand at the quote. The name _Nicholas Flamel_ appeared beside it. "The speaker of this quote, figured out centuries later that elixir to life. He was probably better aware than anyone else how subtle the differences are between magical concoctions- how one enchantment can make a stone poisonous to the touch and another can make it yield life."

Teddy was no longer shaking but was still upset. He raised his hand.

"The goblins," she said looking at him, "do not know how to create potions. They either buy them or steal them from humans. Potions, in addition to Charms and Transfiguration are one of the things that they will never acquire and will always resent us for."

She summoned a corked vial from over everyone's head and floated it to Decima's side. Carefully she placed the vial next to Decima's nose and then, for just a moment, she cracked it open a tiny bit. Decima shook her head once and then looked up in confusion.

"Knowing that slight difference between potions- including dangerous ones- is critical to advancing our magic," she said.

Teddy was hurrying along to the library later that evening, nearly haven forgotten that he was supposed to meet with everyone, when he was smacked, by something he did not see, in the face. He swerved around to check behind him but did not see anyone, that is until he noticed, flying just under the ceiling of the cooridor, a boy on a broom.

"Sorry about that," he yelled at Teddy, although he was giggling as he said this.

Teddy had his Transfiguration book in hand and was sorely tempted to chuck it at the Hufflepuff. He was one of the punkers that his Gryffindor's had pointed out a few times already. A moment later two of his friends zoomed in on their own brooms. One of the them, who was riding with both legs slumped over one side of the broom, flew close to the top of wall, so that he was just a few feet over the classroom door that Teddy was next to. Then, while maintaining a close grip on the handle of his broom, he swung his feet to the side and actually took a few steps along the side of the wall before hopping back onto the broom.

"Wicked," one of the boys called.

"Awesome," said another.

Teddy didn't know what to say. If anyone found these kids they would surely by expelled.

"Let's check out that main staircase," the first boy said.

One of the boys followed suit, but the other one, who had ran along the wall, descended next to Teddy. He had a huge grin on his face and seemed to be breathing like he had just ran a mile.

"Are you Teddy Lupin?" he asked.

Teddy nodded.

"That's what Leonard said," he nodded in the direction of the other two.

"So you fought all those Goblins last year?"

Teddy narrowed his eyes at the kid. "You do know that if a professor or even a Prefect finds you on your broom, you will kicked out of here, right?"

The boy's smile did not falter but he did give a puzzled bob of the head.

Teddy considered explaining how students weren't even supposed to have a broom until they had gone through the broom course, and how a good part of that course was in listing safe flying techniques, one being to keep a huge distance in all directions between the flyer and everything else. The student was staring at him though with undisguised affection.

"We heard you can make yourself into a monster," the Hufflepuff said.

"You heard wrong," Teddy told him.

The Hufflepuff rolled his eyes at this. "My name is James."

"You better get your friends, James, before they get caught."

James nodded, still smiling. "I gotta tell Leonard and the other guys that I met you- they're gonna be bashed."

He sat down on his hovering broom in the same way he had flown before with both legs hanging over one side. This time he flew slowly and low enough to the ground that his feet dragged. Teddy suspected this was in case he sensed a teacher nearby. He could instantly start walking and claim he was just holding the broom upright.

Teddy watched James fly away for a moment before hustling over to the library. Since his friends were from different houses, the library had been one of the few places they could meet together last year. He had spent a good deal of time there and over the months had started to recognize the various people that frequented it. He was surprised therefore to find the room packed with faces he didn't recognize. His own friends had found a table near the back wall of the study area. Dewey, Kai, Violet and Stephen were already there, the four of them covering the table with various books and rolls of parchment.

"When did this place get so popular?" He asked the group as he took the empty seat.

Dewey nodded. "We're not sure, we think it's the extra elective policy though."

"The what?"

"The new policy that says student's who pick up an extra elective during the year can't drop the old one," Dewey explained.

Teddy noticed that most of the students in the surrounding tables were older than him and that most weren't Gryffindors.

"This is part of the Headmistress's new policies?" he asked.

Kai laughed and said, "No, this is because no one would ever have expected that people would sign up for Muggle Studies; that is except for the slackers and those with Muggle guilt Issues."

Dewey gave Kai an un-amused look but continued, "Professor Curr set up a little event in our house where interested students could meet with the new Muggle Studies professor. A bunch of people did and now most of my house signed up for Muggle Studies."

"He spoke in your common room?" Teddy asked in disbelief.

Dewey shrugged.

"Your's too?" Teddy said looking between Kai and the Slytherins.

"Not at ours," said Kai, "but a number of students in each grade ended up signing up for it anyways."

Stephen shook his head. "I don't know of anyone in Slytherin who signed up."

Teddy gave Violet an "I told you so" look. She seemed to disregard it as she pointed to Teddy's Potion book which he had set off to the side.

"You should have stuck around," she said.

"So Madame could tell me another quote," he shot back.

"She wanted to speak with you," she said.

Teddy started to respond to this but then stopped. "Hey," he said looking at Dewey. "What is the matter with those new Hufflepuffs?"

Kai and the Slytherins chuckled at this, Dewey just sighed.

"They're lucky our new Head of House is hands off," he said. "I don't think Peasegood would have tolerated their attitudes."

"Three of them were flying brooms down the hall," Teddy told them. "One of them nearly took my head off."

Everyone looked at Teddy in shock.

"You gotta admit that's pretty cool," Kai said with a smile.

"It's idiotic," said Violet.

"Yeah, but cool," Kai said.

Teddy didn't want to admit it, especially considering the concerned frown on Dewey's face, but the wall running thing that James had done did look pretty fun.

Later, as everyone was leaving, Kai nudged Teddy's shoulder. "I'm guessing you didn't talk to her yet," he said.

Teddy shook his head.

"Well, go- we need this thing back."

"We?" Teddy said to him, but Kai ignored him and yelled, "Vi!"

She was already halfway down the hall when she turned around and even at a distance, they could make out her murderous expression.

"What?" she snapped.

Kai slapped Teddy on the back and then headed in the other direction.

"He wanted me to talk to you," Teddy said, after hurrying over to the two Slytherins.

"About what?" she asked.

"To see if you could talk to your Prefect about getting that thing of his back..."

She looked back at Teddy blankly. "What thing?"

"From the train…" Teddy started to explain but didn't know what it was called or how to describe it. "Kai almost jinxed Caicus over it."

"Ohh," Stephen said. He was chuckling. "There's no way she can get that back."

Teddy didn't know why but the comment annoyed him immensely. He ignored Stephen though and asked Violet, "why not?"

She had still not given any indication that she knew what he was talking about. "Why didn't he ask me himself?"

Teddy shrugged. "Because he knows he can't talk to you without driving you crazy."

She considered this and then smiled. "Get him to drop the nickname and I'll get the item back."

The Gryffindor common room seemed as crowded as the library had been. Older students had laid claim to the well-worn couches and squishy armchairs that lined the fireplace. The younger students who weren't talking and playing games at nearby tables had taken unused chairs and placed them as near to the fire area as possible. Some students simply sat at the feet of everyone and stared blankly ahead.

Teddy was aware that his fellow Gryffindors seemed to watch him whenever he entered or exited the common room. While most were outwardly pleasant and even obsequious to him, he had already overheard a few older students muttering, "how he thinks he's too good for Gryffindor." The truth was that his standing up for his Slytherin cousin in the previous year to Roger (then a fourth year) and his bullying friends, as well as spending as much time as he did with his friends in other houses, had left a prickly feeling among many of his housemates' eyes. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable in his house, but he didn't feel compelled to talk to anyone either.

Julie Bowden and April Rowkser seemed to sense Teddy's distance from the rest of the house. They were standing a few feet from the table Teddy pulled up to and glancing over at him every few minutes before promptly averting his gaze when he looked over.

Finally he spun around to the two of them. "Hi," he said.

Their faces went red at this and neither said anything back to him.

"Err… have you two started on the Transfiguration essay?" he asked. He hadn't planned on getting to the essay until later in the week but it was the first thing that popped into his mind.

Julie shook her head. "Sorry," she said and then after looking over at April who was shaking her head in a more panicked way, turned back to Teddy. "There's something I wanted to ask you."

Julie's face had somehow gotten even redder in the last moment but she stared back at him and asked, "are you and Chloe still dating?"

'Had they been dating?' Teddy wondered. He hadn't seen her since she was in the hospital, and had all but refused to speak to her for a good part of the previous year. Despite this, it didn't feel right to talk to them about this and he thought it was a tactless way to indicate that one of them might fancy him.

"Why?" he asked them.

Julie swallowed hard but stared back at him.

"I didn't know either of you were friends with her last year," he said.

Julie squeaked a bit at this, but April had grabbed her arm and was pulling her away. "Forget it," April said as she steered the two girls away from the table.

Teddy stared back down at the book he was reading, trying hard to concentrate on Professor Curr's assignment. He hadn't yet gotten around to responding to either of the letters he had received and wasn't sure what he wanted to say anyway.

His fruitless studying was interrupted by a knock on his shoulder. One of Madame Seavelle's house elves, unmistakable in their royal blue uniforms, appeared to be standing at attention as he was staring past where Teddy was sitting.

"Can I help you?" Teddy asked the elf.

The elf pulled a roll of parchment from a little holster hanging from his belt and handed it over. Teddy wasn't the only person at a loss for words, as his fellow housemates were crowding around to witness the professional little elf and Teddy.

The elf didn't seem to be going anywhere so Teddy unrolled the parchment.

_Dear Teddy_

_ I was hoping to get a chance to speak with you after our discussion in class this afternoon. I have heard a great deal about your unrelenting efforts last year and would very much like to get your insights into the ongoing problems facing our fellow wizards. Please let Traver's know if you will accept my invitation to my next dinner party- in case you are wondering, your cousin, and a number of your fellow students have already accepted._

_ Cordially,_

_ Muriel Seavelle_

The date on the bottom of the sheet was for an upcoming Sunday evening. There was no further description for the event.

For a moment he wondered if anyone else in his house had received a similar letter but his thoughts quickly shifted to the phrases "unrelenting efforts" and "insights into the ongoing problems facing our fellow wizards." It didn't seem like she was speaking directly about Teddy's actions in the tunnels but rather about his semester long activity with the DA. Was the professor really wondering what Teddy thought about wizard relations? Was it normal or even acceptable to invite students to eat dinner with them, especially to discuss such topics?

In truth he wasn't sure he had anything of value to say. He hadn't felt nearly as certain about any injustices since the insurrection of the previous year. He didn't have an answer for how wizards should treat house elfs, goblins, or wizards. All he could seem to muster over the past few months, besides the simple joys of being around his family and friends, was outrage when other people said the wrong thing about Chloe, or about Alduin, or about the sneaky house-elves, or about the bloodthirsty goblins. Almost anything people said made him annoyed and he found himself constantly biting back just the sort of indignant retorts that he had uttered in potions earlier that day. He had the feeling though that Seavelle was not the type to leave well enough alone and that one way or the other she would hear him out.

Teddy nodded at the elf. "Where do I go?" he started to say, but the elf had already clicked his fingers and popped away.

"A new friend of yours?" called Kaitlin from near the fireplace.

He swished his wand and shot a rolled up piece of paper over in her direction and was surprised by how happy he was to see it hit something invisible in front of her face and then fall to the floor.

She grinned at him. "I have a Ravenclaw tutor and all it took was for me to guarantee that the punkers will leave him be to teach me the spell. Funny, considering they could care less about anyone in that house."


	5. Chapter 5 A Surprise Behind Every Door

**Chapter 5: A Surprise Behind Every Door**

Despite his Godfather's warning, Teddy did not hear about any upsetting news. He made sure each morning to borrow a copy of the daily prophet and took to scouring the inner pages during the later meals each day. Harry had been extremely vague in his letter- whether this was because he was concerned about people within the castle intercepting the note, or because he didn't want Teddy to get more info than necessary, he wasn't sure. Teddy assumed though that if his Godfather mentioned it, then it would be something that directly affected his friends and himself.

While the Prophet didn't seem to indicate any sort of disaster besides the ongoing notices of small scale Goblin-Auror clashes, Teddy noticed that the professors and prefects seemed especially vigilant throughout the corridors of the castle.

He was walking back from the library one evening with Dewey, the two of them had already passed Professor Rai, and a pair of Ravenclaw Prefects who were obvious on patrol, when Dewey said, "You think there is something they are not telling us?"

Teddy nodded. "Harry mentioned something big happened recently."

Dewey looked at him quizzically, but Teddy quickly added, "He didn't say any more than that ."

Dewey and Teddy watched as Caicus and the other Slytherin Prefect (a pretty blond girl who Violet had pointed out but he had forgotten her name) walked past them. Caicus nodded at Teddy but did not ask them where they were headed or tell them to hurry back as the other Prefects were doing.

"Are you surprised that your godfather won't tell you more?" Dewey asked.

"No- he's always been that way."

Dewey didn't say anything to this for a moment but then said something that surprised Teddy. "Do you get the impression people think we're like them?"

Teddy noticed that Dewey no longer flushed every time he said anything in his new deep voice and was glad for it.

"Some people," Teddy said, assuming Dewey was referring to Harry, Ron and Hermoine.

"Not them though," Dewey said.

Even though Dewey and Kai had spent a week at his house over the summer, the three of them had not discussed the previous spring once. Teddy suspected that the two had very different reactions within their own families, but hadn't felt comfortable asking either of them about it.

"Actually they kind of do," Teddy said with a smile. "That's probably why the one person in the world that could tell us the most about what's going on is also the least likely to do so."

"I hear you are dating Chloe," Dewey said with a smirk.

Teddy was about to punch him in the shoulder when he stopped. The two of them had been walking past a classroom on the second floor that Teddy had not been to before, when he overheard someone arguing within. Dewey paused, and then frowned at Teddy who was straining to hear the conversation on the other side of the door.

He opened his mouth to say something but Teddy put a finger to his lips.

"..._The wards would never allow for that_," said a man's voice that Teddy did not recognize.

There was another voice that sounded like it was coming from a distance and, strangely, like the speaker was underwater. Whatever it said Teddy could not determine, but the first speaker did not appear to like what he was hearing as he said. "_No- out of the question. We need to find another way."_

The underwater voice said something again, but whatever the person in the classroom said in response, Teddy did not know. Dewey had grabbed his shoulder and was pulling him away from the classroom.

"What did you do that for?" Teddy said.

Dewey kept them walking in the same direction but said, "the Headmistress is back there" out of the side of his mouth.

Teddy managed to not look back but slowed his pace a little. Before they turned around the corner to their respective staircases, he was almost positive he heard a door being opened and closed.

At meals, Kaitlin had taken to flanking Teddy's sides and Clippy was always somewhere nearby. He wasn't exactly sure why they did this as none of the Gryffindor second years that Teddy sat with had much to say to either of them and Teddy at best gave them cursory attention. The two first years were at either side of him at breakfast that morning when Colin Hayes walked up.

"Scram," he told Kaitlin.

She glared at him but did not move.

"One of you firsties needs to move," he said again.

Clippy looked around Teddy to see what she was going to do and then back at Colin.

Colin sighed, "I just need him a moment alright?"

Clippy got up and found a spot down the table. Kaitlin watched him go and then followed over to sit nearby.

Colin wasted no time getting to his point.

"So have you heard about Quidditch?" he asked Teddy.

Teddy shook his head.

"I spoke to Vin about it. No outdoor activities this semester- no Quidditch."

Teddy didn't know what to say. He had guessed that the professors would be hesitant to let the students go to Hogsmede. Not letting anyone even on the castle grounds seemed a bit much though.

Colin looked like just admitting that made him disgusted. "Something about the Orange Wards-about how certain areas cannot have people traveling through them."

Teddy did not say what he knew about dead zones. He had a funny feeling that Colin wasn't just telling him as a way to pass the word along.

"That's too bad mate," he replied.

Colin shot the head table a dirty look and turned to Teddy with a serious look on his face.

"So I was thinking," he said and then he leaned in a bit and said in a lower voice, "we need to get the DA involved."

"What?" sputtered Teddy. He had whipped his head around to glance back at the other boy and in the process had knocked over a glass of orange juice with one of his hands.

"It worked last year," Colin said.

"Are you crazy?" Teddy said back to him.

"It's an unfair rule," Colin said a bit defensively. He had attempted a drying spell at the spilled juice but had so far only managed to make little ripples along the surface of the water.

"I'm not going to lead a protest over every rule that people say is unfair." Teddy said.

"Oh but when it effects Slytherins then everyone needs to get involved right?"

Teddy glared at him. "If you want to revolt, do it- find a different name though."

Colin opened his mouth to say something but must have thought better of it because he stood up; looking in Kaitlin and Clippy's direction and said, "you can have your seat back."

Albert, who had witnessed the exchange, cast the drying spell and this time the orange juice vanished.

"Don't mind him," he said, "Colin's just desperate to get on the team this year and doesn't realize he's being a prat."

"I don't remember him mentioning Quiddich once last year," said Teddy.

Albert grinned at Teddy. "Yeah, but I don't think he mentioned Sophia Harrison last year either."

He was referring to a fourth year in their house who Teddy knew many wizards seemed taken with.

"She's a big Quidditch fan; a big one."

Although he had been in school for over a week, Teddy had not yet spoken with Neville Longbottom. He noticed at meals, that his head of house sat next to Dr. Babbit and that the two men generally talked a great deal. Teddy was certain that his godfather had already briefed Neville on the auror's tracking of the man and that he was likely sitting next to him as a way to keep tabs on him. He was surprised therefore when he showed up for Herbology and Babbit was seated near Neville's desk in the front of the class.

"Take your seats everyone," said Neville, who as usual, was making his rounds through the aisles and placing a plant on each desk.

Teddy took his normal seat near the front with Violet and Stephen White. He glanced at Violet to see if she knew of this, but she simply shrugged and started taking out her supplies.

"We have a special guest today," said Neville. "Someone who spends quite a bit of time in the muggle world and who has studied the gardening science… Science right?"

Babbit offered his open hands in a confused manner and chuckled at this.

Neville laughed, "alright, I'll let him explain himself as he will be our lecturer today."

Babbit took his place at the front of the room. He was a thin man that would probably seem even smaller if not for his large bushy beard and mustache that crowded his circular face. He had dark eyes, that did not possess the warmth or spark of Seavelle but rather left an impression of calm, practical intelligence.

"Thank you, Professor," he said. "For those of you who I have not yet met, my name is James Babbitt. For the last few years I was Head of Transfiguration at the Flamel Institute in Salem, Massachusetts. ...I noticed at the assembly that many of you seemed confused by my teaching title, Doctor."

He paused at this as if waiting to see if anyone might comment on it.

"It's a designation I actually earned in the muggle world- at considerably more effort than you might realize the average teacher must go through in order to complete their training."

Teddy was happy Neville wasn't paying attention to him as he couldn't help but roll his eyes at this statement. The Slytherin's next to him did not seem any more interested than he was- Stephen appeared to be doodling something in his parchment.

"I do not believe for one moment that my schooling is of any interest to anyone here- academia is never the riveting subject that it's faithful seem to believe. I mention it because what I am here to talk about today will perhaps seem far-fetched to many of you and I want everyone to go into it with at least the understanding that people have spent the better part of a decade testing, and testing, and testing it."

This was a far more interesting way to address the class and perhaps Babbit knew this because he seemed to relax a bit and smile.

"Contrary to your professor's early remarks, we are not going to be discussing gardening today. I can assure you that wizard crops, by and large, are far more interesting to study than the muggle variety."

He pointed one of his fingers at a seed on the desk, which to everyone's surprise lifted calmly into the air and hovered in front of his face.

"Although, if pressed Professor, I do have some notes somewhere from an genetic engineering seminar I took that would likely have applications for your NEWT level students in cross-breeding crops."

Neville nodded at the suggestion and then leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and his feet on the desk.

Dr Babbit mouthed something silently at the seed and it increased multiple times in size until it was about the size of a golden snitch.

"Can anyone tell me what this is?" he asked.

There was a long moment when no one raised their hand. "It's a pea plant," Neville said, "the same pea plant we used dozens of times in class last year..."

Their were a few chuckles at this, including Babbit, who then pointed again at another plant and raised it next to the first before making it the same size.

"Alright, so this is somewhat crude, and frankly, less than acceptable as far as people in my field are concerned, but it's about the best way to explain genetics to wizards in an hour."

He said something quietly to the plant on the left and suddenly two fluttering wings sprung out of either side, making it look even more like the golden snitch. Teddy thought he heard Colin mutter something angrily behind him and wondered for a moment what Neville's _don't you dare disgrace the memory of the DA_ speech would go like between the both of them.

"Alright so we're going to examine my totally made up, winged pea plant because it's easy to visualize, and again, is of bogus reproductive origins. As you can see we have two plants, one a normal every day, frequently used in first year herbology, pea plant…"

Teddy laughed along with the other students at this.

"…The other offspring, a winged pea plant. Can anyone tell me what their offspring will resemble when they reproduce?"

When no one answered again Babbit eyed them incredulously.

"Really? No one can offer a guess? Oh- excellent from the young lady in the back"

"My guess is they have a 50-50 shot of being either winged or un-winged," said Julie.

Babbit nodded. "Let's find out. For the purposes of your entertainment we will make the reproductive cycle into something of a light show."

He twirled one of his fingers around in small circles and suddenly the plants were surrounded by little silent fireworks of bright colors.

"My other student's generally ooh and ahh at these displays," Babbit said with a smile, "but perhaps you are a more refined class."

He stopped his fingers twirling and where before there had been two large pea plants, now there were four. None of them had wings.

"The wonders of nature..." he said. "Ok so we have one parent with wings, one without and they have four children without wings. Now let's see what happens when the offspring reproduce with one another"

There was another show of fireworks obscuring the plants and then a line of eight plants floated in front of Babbit- two of them near the middle of the line each had wings where as the other ones all resembled their parent plant.

"For a good part of history people assumed the offspring would take a blend of each parent and arrive somewhere in the middle- someone with a tall parent and a short parent would grow up to be somewhere in the middle of their heights. This of course happened sometimes, but it didn't happen nearly enough for anyone to be certain."

Babbit flicked his fingers and the eight plants merged back into the original winged and unwinged parent pea plant.

"A muggle scientist doing something very similar to our pea plant exercise noticed that over generations one could notice parents of certain traits passed those along. While some offspring might become wacky winged pea plants, some would not. But over and over, the same amount of plants tended to turn out the same way."

Babbit reached out and picked the plants out of the air and studied them before giving the class a strange look. He wasn't looking at any one student, indeed he eyes slowly swept from one side of the room to the other, but Teddy was certain that each student noticed him in that moment and felt, as he had, as if the professor was gauging to see just how much he could trust them.

"Of course," he said, "The pea plants are just a metaphor for the important aspect of the lesson. How any organism, be it a pea plant, a bug, or a human passes on his or her traits to their offspring... Why some children grow up to be taller, some grow up to have brown hair, and some grow up to be magical."

He went through allele, dominant and recessive genes, and the Punnett Square with the class, each time taking another plant and transfiguring it into something similar. Making it bluer, or with longer petals, or with less seeds. Teddy had to admit he was an excellent teacher- he could see why so many of the students had signed up for his class after a brief visit from him.

They were packing their things at the end of the class when Stephen remarked, "It's hard to believe Professor Babbit's not going to be attending."

"Attending what?" asked Teddy.

Stephen glanced at Violet and then at him, "Madame's dinner. I heard from Guy that he wasn't going to be there."

"Your going to be there?" Teddy said. He realized it was a rude thing to say and noticed Violet glaring at him from behind Stephen. "Sorry, how would Guy know something like that?"

Stephen shrugged, "he's in his Muggle Studies class and apparently he just went right up to him and asked."

"And what did he say?" asked Teddy.

Stephen lowered his voice as Babbit and Neville were speaking near their table. "He said he hadn't heard of it, and that the house elves who served the great hall dinner were more than adequate chefs."

Teddy shook his head and despite himself smiled.

The official statements, passed along each morning and evening by the house prefects, were that due to the continued external threats to Hogwarts, that various sections of the school, as well as everything outside the castle walls were off-limits. Certain classrooms however, including the library, and an interhouse common's area (an idea generated during the cohouse habitation of last spring) were open and most of the clubs (excluding Quidditch) were allowed to meet. The Charms Club was popular among the Ravenclaws and Kai seemed desperate for his other friends to attend with him.

"There's going to be lots of older girls there," Kai said with a smirk. They were walking back from the library and Kai was trying to recruit for the meeting the next evening.

"And?" Violet said to this.

"I'm sorry if not everything we do has to be gender neutral vi-o-let" Kai said, this new way of saying her name annoying her almost as much as the other way.

She rolled her eyes at this.

"C'mon it might make you half-way decent in Flitwick's class."

"I am half-way decent" Teddy said.

"Well, yeah, for a Gryffindor," Kai said. "I mean OWL track good though- all of you."

"Pass," Violet had said without hesitation.

Teddy did not have any special interest in the Charms Club but he and Dewey had allowed Kai to talk him into attending.

He was on his way to the Charms classroom that evening when he noticed Kaitlin walking out of a stairwell down the hall. She was tapping her wand against the side of her leg and moving very quickly through the corridor before slipping into the Defense Against the Dark Art's classroom door.

"What the..." Teddy muttered and considered just heading back in the other direction when he overheard a crash from up ahead.

He ran to the classroom and took out his own wand before opening the doors.

"What the hell is that?" Kaitlin was yelling. It looked as if someone had thrown a paint can full of green goop at her but midway through the paint's flight it had encountered a wall; everything on either side of her was dripping wet.

Across from her, all five of the punker Hufflepuffs had their wands outstretched. A nearby globe of the moon lay in two pieces somewhere behind them.

James called out, "you brought Lupin?"

"What?" she said. She threw a distracted glance back at Teddy, before they jinxed her again. This time they connected; from her face down she looked like a dragon sneezed on her.

"You bastards," she screamed, before throwing a leg-lock jinx at the boys in front of her. It connected with one of the Punkers, his legs seizing together before he crashed backwards into a desk..

They were about to retaliate when Teddy jumped in front of her.

"Stop!" he cried. But he was too late as a few of them had already let go of their curse. He had been hit by the jelly legs hex before, but not by more than one person at a time. His two legs seemed to buckle in the opposite directions and he let himself fall on his face rather than splinch his nether regions.

"Prats," he said quietly as the four still standing punkers and Kaitlin all stood over him and watched him with concerned expressions.

"Who jumps in front of a curse without a shield?" asked Kaitlin.

"Who takes on five idiots by themselves?" he replied.

The boys smiled at this but Kaitlin was still looking at him with a puzzled look.

"Does somebody want to countercurse me?" Teddy asked.

James pointed at his legs and said the countercurse but when Teddy moved his right leg it made the unmistakable wobble of the jelly-legs.

"Somebody else maybe?" Teddy asked.

James tried again as did the other punkers but none of them were successful.

"You guys learned the curse, but not the counter?" Teddy said in disbelief.

Kaitlin picked up his wand, which had been flung off to the side of the room when he crashed to the floor and handed it to him. Teddy pointed it at his legs and very methodically performed the countercurse.

"Do you want me to get him too?" Teddy asked pointing to the other punker across the room who was watching them from the ground.

"Nah, you can leave him," Kaitlin replied.

Teddy rolled his eyes and then walked over to the boy and undid the jinx.

"I don't suppose any of you know drying or cleaning charms?" he asked the group.

No one said anything to this but the first years were looking around the room at the various things that were either covered in muck or had been knocked over and broken.

"Do you?" asked one of the punkers- Leonard. He was the one that had hit Teddy in the face with his broom when they were flying down the corridor a few weeks ago.

Teddy was about to snap something back at him when he heard a sound from behind him.

"Awesome..." said Kai who was examining the bat bogey that was slowly dripping off of Kaitlin. "Teddy you didn't tell me you were going to fight the punkers."

"Punkers?" asked Leonard.

"I didn't plan on it," Teddy said. He had begun to wander around the room and perform drying charms on the bat bogey that covered the floor and Kaitlin. Kai followed after him and performed the same spells which were far more efficient as anything Teddy tried tended to go away after his spellwork.

"I saw this idiot run into a classroom," Teddy said pointing his thumb in Kaitlin's direction.

"I have a name," she said.

"And I found these idiots already lined up against her when I got in."

Kai fixed the broken moon and then charmed the flipped over desks and chairs back into their right place.

"So, why are you guys fighting?" Kai asked.

The boys looked at one another for a moment, but no one had an answer. Kaitlin, seeing this, said, "Really- you guys didn't even have a reason?"

"You were being snotty with us," Leonard replied.

She snorted at this. "That's because you were being prats and messing with the Gryffindors."

"You weren't a Gryffindor though," Leonard replied. "You kept saying you want to fight with the Gryffindors and you were just another firstie on the train."

"Oh please," she said.

"That's my point," Leonard replied.

Teddy noticed that Kaitlin was tapping her wand against her leg again and decided once again to step between the guys and Kaitlin.

"Ok, so I guess the real question is what you guys had against Gryffindor?" he asked.

The boys looked at one another again. This time James shrugged. "Nothing really," he said, as he and the other Punkers were all smiling now.

"So I don't see any reason why we can't all be friends," Teddy said. He had glanced at Kai for a moment and now the two of them were having a difficult time not laughing at the clearly un-amused expression that Kaitlin was still wearing.

"Whatever," she said.

"That's the spirit," said Kai- then that same wolfish expression that had come over him before when he was talking about flaming skateboards once again was on his face. He looked at the punkers, "Teddy had mentioned about you guys flying through the corridors."

Leonard narrowed his eyes, "yeah?"

Kai looked at Teddy, "maybe there is a more productive place for that sort of thing."


	6. Chapter 6 What They Aren't Saying

**Chapter 6: What they aren't saying**

During meals and around his common room Teddy made small inquiries as to whether anyone else from his house was also attending Madame Seavelle's dinner. At lunch on the day of the event, he had still not found anyone from his own house and had pretty much taken it as a given that he would be the only one. He was finishing his meal when Kaitlin had gotten up from her usual spot near Teddy to leave. Clippy, who had been sitting next to her and tended to enter and leave the hall with her, had lagged behind and then whispered to him, "You're going to the dinner tonight right?"

Teddy nodded.

He had an uncomfortable look on his face but he plunged ahead anyway. "Do you think people can bring guests? Because…"

Teddy interrupted him. "I don't think it works that way."

"I figured," Clippy said with a sigh.

Kaitlin, who had already gotten up to leave the dining hall, had apparently just noticed that Clippy wasn't next to her. She turned and glanced at the two of them talking.

"I gotta go," Clippy said and went to join her.

Teddy, watched him go and noticed from a few seats down that Julie and April were looking at him. As they had been doing though, they turned quickly away and began talking to one another when they saw him glance over.

He sighed and then resumed eating his sandwich.

"Hey mate," said Colin, who had just walked over and taken Kaitlin's empty seat.

"Hey," Teddy replied.

"I wanted to apologize to you about the other day."

Teddy raised his eyebrows at this and quickly swallowed the bite in his mouth.

"I've been practicing for the team all summer," said the larger Gryffindor. "I figured I had a pretty good head start compared to the other new tryouts."

Teddy waved his hand, "I wanted to try out too. It's pretty rough that we can't play this year."

Colin nodded.

Teddy glanced at the table where the Headmistress was reading some documents while reading the papers. He noticed that she was doing this at most meals now and from what he could remember this was a change from the previous year.

"I'm going to talk to my Uncle Bill about the wards. Maybe he can tell me if they are working on a way for it to be safe on the grounds at least."

Colin smiled. "Thanks mate."

Teddy chewed for a moment and then slightly nodded his head down the table where a number of fifth year girls were eating.

"So I hear Sophia is a quite the Quidditch fan?"

Teddy met Violet and Stephen on the way down to the dinner party that night. To his dismay the two of them were dressed up in much more formal attire than he had thought to.

"Blimey," he said upon seeing them.

Stephen smirked at this. Violet glanced down at her watch and then back at him. "If you hurry and change you can still make it on time."

Teddy considered this and then shook his head.

"I don't have time"

"If you hurry..." Violet began but stopped when she noticed a first year boy apparently having walked up to Teddy without anyone noticing him. "Uh hi?" she said to him.

"Hi," he responded.

"Clippy?" said Teddy, noticing the first year boy who was wearing a similar high collared dress robe that Stephen was wearing. "I told you I couldn't bring a guest tonight."

Clippy looked at him confusedly. "You said we can't bring guests."

"You're invited?" he blurted out. He knew once again that his tone had been rude as Violet and Stephen were frowning at him. "I mean, I asked everyone in the house and no one seemed to be coming."

He shrugged. "I was hoping I could bring Kaitlin, or at least give her the option to say no to the dinner. But you're probably right about not just assuming its ok to show up with guests"

Teddy managed to give this a weak smile. Why was he being so weird about this dinner anyway? While the Slytherins and a few other people were obviously obsessed with the new professor, he didn't really understand why she was such a big deal. For one thing, none of his roommates had much to say about her, anything that he would be willing to admit to his Gran at least. Beyond his first class with her, he hadn't spoken to her, and she hadn't been at most of the classes anyway.

"Alright," He finally said to Clippy, "we should get going."

The four of them were greeted outside Madame Seavelle's quarters by one of her house elves. Teddy had yet to hear any of them speak and had a very difficult time telling one from the other. The elf cast an almost bored look at them and then bowed, the act of which caused the heavy wooden doors, to open up for them.

Inside there was a small lamp lit room with a coffee table to the side of the wall and a small throw rug with a row of various shoes lined against the wall. Teddy was surprised to find along the other wall a number of photographs, although he could not say why, of Madame, smiling along with men and women of her age, at family dinner's where she seemed to be a welcome guest. Scattered amongst the photos were a few noticeably different images of Madame standing quite stiffly next to equally serious and capable looking individuals, each person holding in their hands a row of parchment with a formal black ribbon binding the center.

Another elf quickly met them at the end of the room and guided them through a small hallway into a cozy oval shaped room where a number of people were already gathered at the dinner table. The elf clicked his fingers and four seats around the table pulled out which the students all took, Teddy guessed that he looked as self-conscious as his three friends. The elf clicked again and their chairs scuttled forward.

Madame Seavelle, who had been speaking to the other guests around the table, paused for just a moment when Teddy and the others entered the room, but just as quickly she was speaking again to those around the table. She was leaning back in her chair, speaking quite enthusiastically to the group, and Teddy was struck by how different she seemed in this dining room compared to her Potions Lab. In the dungeon, she tended to lean over the scrolls that she was reading almost as if she were sheltering them from the cold. She would sit like this, absolutely still, and it was easy to forget she was there at all, except for the rare moments where Fernius would misspeak. The other day he had mentioned the cooling qualities of Ivy leaves when he should have mentioned Holly leaves. She said 'Holly' without looking up from her reading and then was silent once again as he continued his lecture.

"What good are they doing if half the time they are engaged in retributive battles?" Seavelle was now saying to a middle aged man that Teddy did not recognize.

Professor Rai cut in, "The problem with the goblin attacks is that they aren't just one or two random individuals causing trouble. Where this is one, there are a dozen."

Guy Thomas, the only other student seated at the table had acknowledged Teddy and his friends with a smile, but his focus went back to the argument at hand. He was looking back and forth at the people speaking and then at a notebook which he was furiously scribbling in.

The Headmistress demurred. "I think we should count our blessings as to how little impact the Goblin's have had."

Seavelle had a smile on her face that suggested to Teddy that whatever her response was for this she did not care to say. Instead she tapped her fork against her glass a few times bringing everyone out of the conversation and over to her.

"Greetings," she said. "Everyone's here and most likely as hungry as I am. First though, introductions, I believe, are in order".

"Rolf Pruitt," Seavelle said without glancing at the only person that was not either a student or a teacher, "is an adviser in the Wizengamot. To the Pruitt seat, the Avery seat, and to..." she glanced at him hesitantly.

"To a few others, depending on how they are feeling about me at the time," Pruitt said before taking a small sip from his glass.

He reminded Teddy strongly of the relatives his Grandmother only reluctantly would show in an extended family photo album. Not in his face, which although young seemed crinkled and tightly bound, but in the way he carried himself. He had the unmistakable air of someone who expected much from the people he chose to speak with, his expression a challenging smile.

Seavelle laughed and then introduced everyone to Pruitt. Surprisingly, to Teddy at least, the only person that interested him was Clippy.

"Is he related to Eudora?" He asked over his head as one might when talking about a pet.

Clippy gave him an odd look. "She's my auntie," he said.

Rolf's eyes were wide but he said nothing further.

"I appreciate everyone coming out this evening," Seavelle said.

She looked to her side and a house elf seemed to appear from nowhere. Soon four of them were walking around the table depositing platters of food to everyone.

"I try, whenever possible, to dine with people that have interesting things to say," she continued.

The elf closest to Teddy was setting silverwear down when he dropped a fork and knife on the floor. Teddy expected him to pick it up and deposit on his plate as if nothing happened, but the elf had quickly glanced at his fellow elves, as if searching to see if he had been caught by them, before quickly clicking his fingers and conjuring the silverwear onto Teddy's napkin.

"Sometimes these dinners are less worthwhile than others," she said with a guilty smile. "You invite people because they're married to the person you want to hear from, or the uncle or child of someone you want to speak with. These…sociable stragglers," she said with her eyebrows raised in a sort of _someone has to admit it_ expression.

The adults laughed a bit at this. Teddy might have if he didn't sort of feel that way about his own presence that evening.

"I've had the good fortune though," she continued, "to leave some of that world behind for a moment and to surround myself with curious minds. What a braintrust one could put together here!"

This sounded like something Kai would be interested in, Teddy thought. _Why weren't Kai and Dewey also invited_ he wondered.

Everyone had raised their glasses in a toast and then took a sip of what Teddy assumed was Champagne- it certainly seemed as bubbly and warm as the glasses his Grandma passed out at special occasions to the adults in the room.

"I have to ask," Pruitt said, glancing at Clippy, "what is your aunt up to these days?"

"I'm not sure," he replied. "The same thing she has always done I suppose."

"Yes… I understand you probably don't inquire as to her day to day activities but I have to ask whether she has talked at all about returning to her previous seat- or what she might be doing with that seat."

"We don't really discuss it," Clippy said. He looked at Teddy for a moment as if confused by how much he would need to answer in order to be polite. "She's not the most talkative person in my family- not compared to some of my other aunts and uncles."

"But…" Rolf began.

"Now now, I didn't bring Byron here to grill him on family politics," Seavelle said lightly. She shifted her focus to Teddy. "I wonder," she said, "what you think about the two most recent attacks"

"Attacks?" Teddy asked. He had continued, since receiving his Godfather's vague warning, to search the prophet for any sign of unrest, but had not seen anything more sinister than a few pub fights and a wizard starting another wizards chicken coop on fire.

"The two attacks, yes. I would think that you Mr. Lupin of all people would find a way to keep up to date with the Auror's goings on."

"A second attack?" the Headmistress said in a small voice. "Where?"

Seavelle's eyes seemed to widen a bit at this, "well, here."

"I know that," Llewellyn interrupted curtly, "the other one."

Teddy shared a look with the Slytherin's, their faces confirmed that this was news to them as well.

"In the Pennines Mountains," Seavelle said. "It happened somewhere near the Blackstone Gorge."

Llewellyn frowned at this and then put her wand to her head and removed a bright silvery strand from near her temple which she floated above her plate with the wand while digging with her free hand for a small vial. She sent the strand into the bottle where it seemed more like a cloud than a strand of hair.

"Do you think," Seavelle said, once again in Teddy's direction, "that the Goblins are trying to get a rise out of your godfather?"

Teddy's cheeks flushed and unfortunately any response that he might have to anyone else asking this question (namely that's none of your business) seemed absent from his mind. He didn't need to say anything though, as Llewellyn promptly cleared her throat and said, "This is not an appropriate conversation for the younger students."

Pruitt shook his head, "I don't understand why the Hogwarts and Blackstone attacks have any bearing on Mr. Potter. The symbolism of his nephew? That seems like a stretch."

Llewellyn now seemed mad. "If you please, I haven't yet announced to our students about the Goblin's activities on the outskirts of our grounds. We have yet to get the complete report from the Aurors."

Seavelle took a sip of her drink and nodded slightly at this. She did not seem ashamed for bringing it up and indeed went ahead and said. "Alright, no talk of Hogwarts, but I'm sure Mr. Potter was taken aback about the Pennines troubles."

"And why would that be?" Teddy snapped back. He was aware that his tone was as rude now as it was in their first Potion's class (and that the Slytherin's were probably mortified once more) but he was more annoyed at Seavelle's naked attempt to pry into his Harry's business through the ploy of a _braintrust_ dinner party.

"Well because of the family mine," she said as if this didn't need to be said. He must have had a pretty confused look on his face because she was looking at him in puzzlement. "The Black Stone mine. The Potters mine. Didn't he ever tell you about it?"

Teddy looked over at Violet who shrugged. Everyone else at the table seemed equally puzzled, although if it was because of Seavelle's revelation or Teddy's ignorance, he wasn't sure.

"I'm sorry, I don't know how much your godfather shares with you of his own family history and if I'm talking about this in a rude way please let me know."

Teddy frowned. "He's told me a lot about his family. About where his mum and dad grew up and about their marriage and about Voldemort…"

"Yes, I see." She seemed, for the first time since he had met her, genuinely troubled. "I should have asked you first, rather than just blindly pointing out bits about your family."

"What did the Potter's do?" asked Clippy.

Teddy was glad that Clippy asked and not anyone else at the table.

"Well they own a sizable portion of the mine," she said. "Mr. Potter's father, James, I believe, had assumed the Prospector mantle after graduating from Hogwarts."

"Prospecting?" said Guy. He had set his quill down at this and had a massive grin on his face.

"Yes," said Seavelle. She stared at him curiously. "You seem amused."

"There are wizard prospectors?" he asked. He was the only person in the room on the verge of laughter.

She nodded, still staring at him. "You are a Muggle born correct?"

His smile vanished and he seemed to stiffen a bit at this. "That's right," he said.

"Do they have prospectors in the Muggle world as well?" she asked.

He nodded. "Or they did a long time ago. They're sort of caricatures now though; out of shape guys in long underwear and coveralls with missing teeth. They carry lanterns and pickaxes and are obsessed with finding gold."

Teddy tried to picture James Potter (who in pictures looked very much like Harry) in coveralls and missing teeth.

"What happened to them?" Seavelle asked.

"Well Muggles developed better technologies that surely would have changed things for them."

"What sort of technology?" she asked.

"Steam powered shovels that blast into rock, large vehicles that pushed stone aside, I imagine they use hot water and various chemicals now to find stones."

"Dr. Babbit would probably be the one to ask," Professor Rai said.

"Who is this Dr. Babbit?" Pruitt asked. "I've heard his name a number of times in the Wizengamot?"

"Really?" Teddy said. He felt something kick him under the table and he tried to smile. "He taught one of our herbology classes."

"He's our new Muggle Studies professor," the Headmistress explained. "He's had quite an impact already. Now what happened over at the Black Stone Gorge?"

Seavelle shook her head. "I don't know much. I thought Teddy might have some idea of whether it was a big attack or not."

"Harry makes a point to not tell me anything about his work," Teddy said. He glanced over at the Headmistress who had a worried look on her face. "I'm sure if I don't know about it though, then it's not something I need to worry about."

Rai nodded. "That's what I would guess as well."

"You know" Seavelle said, glancing to the kitchen where the elves now streamed out carrying platters of ice cream with cherries on top that emitted a bright red flame. "Sometimes I think we do a disservice to our nation by keeping things secret _for the public's interest_. It's called public interest for a reason."

She took a scoop of the ice cream and looked at the students rather than the adults for a response.

Violet, who had been extremely quiet since arriving, glanced at the Headmistress and then said, "I thought that too last year. I wonder what people would have done though if they knew Goblins were going to try to attack the castle."

"Probably the same thing they are doing now," said Stephen.

"And that is?" asked the Headmistress curiously.

"Nothing," Teddy answered. "It's like this summer when I went home. I thought the first day something might happen to our house or Harry's or..." he stopped himself and looked amongst the group who all were waiting for him to finish. "Nothing happened that day and so I thought maybe the next day-,but it didn't. And it didn't after that, but it did in other places and it was still supposed to eventually. So over a while you just think things might get bad, but what can you do?"

"You see though," Seavelle said, pointing her spoon excitedly at him. "That's exactly why I would want to know as much as I could. I want to know as much as I can so I have some idea just how close an attack might be."

"You seem to do well enough," Pruitt commented dryly. "I hadn't heard about either of the attacks."

"Well Rolf... You're near far too many people to have any excuse. You're on the outside," she said with a smile.

Something was bugging Teddy and although he would rather not bring the question up in front of the whole group, he wasn't sure he was up to speaking with Seavelle privately.

"Madame, why would Harry's family need to prospect? Harry never seemed to me like he needed much money."

She ate the last spoonful of ice cream and sat back deeply into her chair. "Yes that is interesting isn't it? Those with wealth pursuing more of it..."

"We don't know how wealthy they were," Llewelyn said.

"No," Seavelle agreed. "I can only guess. If Harry hasn't told you about his family's work then there is a chance he doesn't know the full reaches of his parent's wealth."

He probably wouldn't care if he found out, Teddy suspected. He had eaten all of his food and was annoyed at the sleepiness that was threatening to overtake him when this was the first time in months it felt like he was actually hearing what was going on.

"Did your Godfather ever speak to you about his finding the Philosopher's stone?" she asked.

Teddy shook his head. Even if he had, he wouldn't admit it though. He thought this listening but never admitting to anything would probably serve as a useful future strategy for dealing with Seavelle.

"If I ever meet him, it would be what I would ask him about," she said. She glanced at the other Professors around the table. "Have any of you spoken to him about it?"

They shook their heads.

"It's a fascinating story. It seems only four people ever touched the stone- all of them on Chocolate Frog cards, and only Mr. Potter is still alive to speak of it."

Llewellyn glanced down at her wrist and then looked back at the children with an expression of surprise and annoyance. "It's much later than I realized. You need to get to bed."

"Yes, our school week will begin once again in just a few hours," Seavelle said lightly. "You have all contributed greatly to a conversation that means a great deal to me and I hope you will all consider attending one of my dinners in the near future."

Teddy and Clippy shared a look.

"I don't get it," Violet said to Teddy as soon as Professor Rai, who had escorted them from the dinner back towards their dorm, made his way back to his own hallway. "Why did they invite Stephen to the party?"

The Slytherins and Gryffindor's were stopped momentarily at a staircase that led down to the dungeons. Teddy, who had assumed Violet and Stephen were much closer this year was surprised by her question. Apparently so was Stephen.

"What do you mean?" he asked

"Everybody there was connected to somebody that she wanted to know," Violet said, being about as tactful as Kai might be in this situation.

"Sounds like Slughorn," Teddy said.

The two slytherins both gave him an annoyed look at this. "Maybe forty years ago," Stephen said. Violet was still scrutinizing Stephen. "Why you," she repeated.

"Probably the same reason as Guy. I'm one of her best Potions students," he said back a bit snippily.

"I don't think that's why she brought Guy," Violet said. Whatever reason she thought she wasn't offering though, and the group exchanged a somewhat frosty silence.

Teddy, who rather guiltily enjoyed seeing the two Slytherins fight, decided to changed the subject. "We finally start to hear what's going on and just when it gets interesting, we are told to go to bed."

"Well they probably were waiting for us to leave before any real details were dropped," Stephen replied.

He was probably right and at that moment Teddy wanted to sneak back into the dinner party. It wouldn't be that difficult. Clippy could serve as a look out, he could shift into one of the Hogwarts House Elves and go into the party for some stupid reason and lag around long enough to hear what they were really saying.

He knew exactly what Harry would say if he was caught though (or even if he wasn't but it eventually came out that he had gone against his word) and that would be after Neville and his Grandma were through with him. No, it was too risky- doable but too risky. And would this be a reoccurring thing for him? Devising plans to sneak around every time he thought the staff would be discussing things that were not of his concern?

He thought about these things as he and Clippy made their way back to Gryfindor Tower in silence.


	7. Chapter 7 Inter-House Camaraderie

**Chapter 7: Inter-house Camaraderie**

Teddy received a letter from his Godfather at Breakfast the following morning. It figured, he thought, that he would find out about the news from somebody else before hearing it from Harry. He assumed whatever information his Godfather had for him he would have heard about the night before. Still he could barely wait to open it; having to force himself to not do so in front of the rest of his housemates at the table.

Later that evening, he went straight to his dormitory (which thankfully was empty) and took out the letter.

_Teddy,_

_I imagine this letter is arriving much later than you or I would like it to and for that I apologize. I don't know what rumors you are probably hearing right now regarding things but let me assure you that it's not nearly as bad as it might sound. A group of Goblins (we don't think there were more than ten of them) tried to barge their way onto the property. They couldn't make even a centimeter of progress on the Orange Wards and we were there to greet them within a couple of minutes. I have to say I'm proud of the work everyone has done to protect the school because they were quite discouraged once we met with them._

_I don't know if you are reading the prophet or not but they are holding off on publishing until the official reports are in. I expect you will be hearing about this within the next day or so. I don't like telling you about it but I promised you I would keep you in the loop as much as possible and I am putting my faith in you to keep up your end of the bargain as well. As far as the thing we discussed before, I'm looking into it and am not worried. You are in good hands at the school Teddy- everyone is. I hope that by the end of the semester things will have gone back to normal._

_Write back a letter that doesn't involve attacks alright? I know you have a few new professors this year and I'm sure you have new friends as well. Your grandma mentioned that you were invited to one of Muriel Seavelle's parties… That's a big deal among some of her friends. Strange obviously- you would think rescuing students and house elves from a Goblin attack would be more impressive. Anyway- I'm as jealous as ever that you are at Hogwarts and I'm not. Tell Neville that I say hi._

_ Love_

_ Harry_

Nothing at all about the Black Stone attack... This didn't really suggest Harry was doing his best to keep Teddy in the loop. He wondered whether his Godparent was purposely keeping the mine and his family's involvement there a secret or whether it just never came up- strange as that might seem to other people.

Teddy had never really considered how various wealthy families made money. He had just assumed that they came from wealth and would pass it along to their own children. Certainly this was the case with some families; Harry, for instance, could retire from the Auror work, never work again, and little James, Albus, and Lilly would still be able to count on a large trust someday.

Still though, the possibility that Harry had willingly kept that part of his family history secret bothered Teddy and not knowing what he wanted to say to his Godparent, he decided to write back at a later time.

"Here's the plan," Kai said to Teddy and Guy Thomas "We let them know that we might have access to a secret room but we don't make any promises."

"Right," said Teddy. "You play it that way."

"Why these kids?" Guy asked. The three students were standing/hiding in the library stacks watching the table where the Punkers, Katilin, and Clippy were all talking quite animatedly. "There are plenty of people that would be interested in an indoor Quidditch club."

"Probably, but from what Teddy's told me these guys have a much more interesting concept of flying."

Teddy frowned at Kai who ignored him and made his way to the table.

The punkers either had learned sewing charms or else they had been busy sending clothes to their mothers considering the plethora of patches now decorating their sleeves and chest. While none of them looked exactly alike, they each had a bright yellow patch featured prominently with black stripes slotted across.

Kaitlin and Clippy who were pointing and laughing at the Hufflepuff clothes seemed to be having little effect on the boys who maintained amused grins and seemed to send the ridicule right back.

"Punkers," Kai said as a greeting to the table. "And punkerette."

Kaitlin rolled her eyes at this but did not respond.

"I'm glad we've managed to put aside our differences in the interest of inter-house cooperation," Kai continued.

"Who are you?" Leonard asked Guy.

Guy did not look like he appreciated the lippy firsties as much as Kai seemed to. "I'm Guy Thomas," he said.

"You're a Ravenclaw?" Leonard said.

"You can see my tie then? Good on you." Guy said.

"I wouldn't need to see a tie to know a Ravenclaw," Leonard said.

"And I wouldn't need to see a poorly sewn on patch to see a…" Guy began, but Kai grabbed his shoulder lightly and laughed.

"Wow, you guys seem to have a way with strangers… Look, I didn't tell these guys yet," he said indicating Teddy and Guy, "but I think if we're going to make the park happen, then we're going to need them."

"Park?" Teddy asked.

"I can't figure out the right word exactly. The Muggles have these things called skateboard parks."

"Just skate parks," James said.

"Skate parks," Kai said with a nod. "They do the sort of trick flying that these guys like to do."

"We don't need a special room, we can do it just fine in the hallways." Leonard said.

Teddy's eyes opened in surprise. "You're still doing that?" he said.

"No," Leonard said somewhat grumpily. "James doesn't think it's a good idea."

During the discussion, Kai had unrolled a parchment that looked like a blueprint of a large room. He had evidently charmed it so that the lines depicting the dimensions of the room shifted according to the numbers that he was writing in and crossing out. Guy, looked over his shoulder at his work.

"So this is a Quidditch room?" he asked.

Kai chuckled. "The problem is, we need a way to get there."

Kaitlin and Clippy had gotten up to see the drawing; Kaitlin budging Teddy to the side so she could get a better look.

"Where is that?" she asked.

"That…" Kai started, but noticed Teddy shaking his head behind her.

"What?" said Leonard from across the table.

"Nevermind," Teddy said.

"What's that room?" Kaitlin repeated.

The smile on Kai's face had vanished as he noticed the look Teddy was giving him.

"Everyone knows," Kai said.

"Know's what?" Leonard asked. He and the other punkers had leaned up over the table to look at the drawing.

Kai was probably right about the public knowledge of the Room of Requirements. It had been a well-used room by a good chunk of the school during the DA meetings of the previous year and if the first years didn't know about it yet they would surely find out soon enough. Still though, they had used that room for good reasons last year. They had snuck around and met under the Headmaster's nose in order to support one another- making it into a playground felt strange.

Guy must not have felt this way because he answered, "they think you guys don't know about the Room of Requirement.

The Punkers groaned at this.

"What?" Teddy said a bit defensively.

"Everyone knows about that," Leonard said. "It was the first place we tried to go to."

"Llewelyn must have one of her prefects permanently stationed on that corridor," James said.

Kai smirked. "So it's not a secret."

Kaitlin punched Teddy on the arm. "Were people this protective with you last year?"

Kai laughed.

"Not exactly," Teddy admitted. "Look- I, and really Kai, you too, have a reputation already as someone who sneaks around and doesn't care about rules. I don't want to be the guy behind the next big controversy."

"That's dumb," Leonard said. The first years all seemed to agree.

"You guys want to make a flying park..." Teddy started to say.

"Flying Park, that's excellent," Kai said.

"I don't get it," Kaitlin said. "Weren't you the guy who thought it would be fun to paint half the castle pink?"

Teddy started to argue.

"He also convinced some of the house elves to play hooky," Kai said.

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Kaitlin agreed. "Are you actively trying to be boring this year?"

Everyone snickered at this except Teddy who felt his face go red.

"A flying park would be cool," said Clippy, who seemed to be trying hard to remain impartial in the exchange,

"Assuming you wouldn't mind being shown up by a bunch of punkers," James added.

Kai had closed the map and was grinning at Teddy hopefully. He sighed and folded his arms. "I can't believe we're giving in to the peer pressure of a bunch of crazy first years," Teddy said. Then to Kai he added, "I don't have that map anymore."

He nodded. "I know- that's why we have to speak with Violet."

They got their chance later that evening. Violet and Stephen were entering the library as they were leaving.

"Before you say anything," Violet said in lieu of a hello. "I've thought about your promise Kai and there is only one way I can believe you when you say you won't say it again."

"My word is not enough?" he asked.

"No," she replied.

"Well, what then?"

She reached into her school bag and dug through a few books before finding the one she was looking for and then opened it up to a dog eared paged and handed it over. He read the text and then scowled at her.

"An oath?" he said incredulously. "You want to perform an oath ceremony?"

Stephen, who either was already aware of Violet's plan and had no interest in the conversation or was perhaps smartly avoiding the argument made his way over to an empty table.

"Not me, it's fairly advanced magic. I think we can find a mutually agreed upon person."

"You don't trust me?" Kai said, sounding somewhat hurt.

She sighed and looked at Teddy for help. He thought the whole thing was a bit much but also knew firsthand how stubborn his cousin could be.

"I trust you, just not to stop calling me by that name. And anyway if you really want me to go out on a limb for you, then you should trust me that I wouldn't put you through anything that would be dangerous for you."

He looked to Teddy for some sort of guidance, seeing none, he stared down at the book for a second.

"Fine, find somebody good though."

Satisfied, Violet turned to Teddy. "Have you gotten a chance to speak with Harry yet?"

Teddy had mentioned to Violet that he was waiting on big news from his godfather after getting the initially vague warning from him. She too must have been wondering how much he might reveal about the two incidents they overheard at their recent dinner with Seavelle.

"This morning- he didn't say much though."

She nodded.

"About what?" Kai asked.

Teddy spoke quietly so just the three could hear. "There's been two Goblin attacks recently."

Kai shrugged.

"One was just outside the Hogwart's wards."

They were standing near a window and Kai went over and peered into the black sky as if looking for Goblin's somewhere in the distance.

"Harry said that they didn't get a centimeter into the Orange Wards," Teddy explained to him.

"Some of my housemates have been talking about them. Apparently it's some really advanced runes stuff at work," Kai said still looking out the window.

Violet, who noticed Stephen waving her over and was about to leave, got Teddy's eye. "Did he by chance mention anything about Dragon Bandits?" she asked him.

"Dragon Bandits?" Teddy said.

His confused look seemed to confirm whatever suspicion she was holding because she nodded goodbye and then walked over to study with Stephen.

"What are Dragon Bandits?" Teddy repeated to Kai who had finally turned back around.

He shrugged again. "Never heard of them."

After Teddy had initially missed the Charms Club meeting on account of running into the middle of a first year fight, he felt unexpectedly free to skive off going anymore. Dewey, having been the only one of his friends to make the first meeting, grumbled about this as they were heading over to the inter-house common room.

"He wasn't there again!" Dewey said. He didn't have to explain that he was talking about Kai, the person who had roped them into going in the first place.

"Why keep going then?" Teddy asked.

Dewey's face went a little red and he walked a little bit faster. "It's not that bad. I just don't get how someone can pressure their friends into going somewhere and then not bother going themselves."

It figured of all of his friends that Dewey would continue going to a club he didn't like just because he initially agreed to do it. Sometimes Hufflepuffs were weird.

"What do you do in the club anyway?"

"Flitwick explains some theory on different spells and then we work on it."

Teddy couldn't help but laugh. "It sounds like class."

Dewey shrugged. "It kind of is- but it's a different mix of-"

He didn't finish this thought though as they were entering the inter-house common room, three girls, sitting at a square table in the center of the room, saw them enter and shouted- 'Dewey!'

He blushed deeper than he had before, but regained quickly, smiling and waving at them.

"Who are they?" Teddy asked.

"Some of my Charms Club friends," he said, with a rare showy smile.

The three girls each had a pile of books near them and seemed to be somewhere between studying and playing a game of exploding snap. They looked to be at least fourth years- Teddy remembered each of them at some point in his many trips to the library.

"Teddy, this is Hannah, Eloise, and Mary," he said.

Teddy shook each of their hands and took a seat next to Dewey at the exploding snap game.

"So you must really like Charms?" Teddy said.

"Not really," Hannah said with a smile. "But nobody wants to be the low scoring member of the house."

"Hannah!" Mary said in mock outrage. "It's not that big of a deal," she said to Teddy. "Most people in Ravenclaw join the various societies though."

Teddy nodded, "Our friend Kai tried to persuade us to go."

"Dewey's pretty talented," Eloise said, causing the girls next to her to snicker and Dewey to once again flush.

He cleared his throat, "I'm ok. Nothing like the claws though."

They talked a bit about the various charms they had to practice in anticipation of their upcoming meeting. Surprisingly, the spells were far more dangerous sounding than the type they would normally work on in class. They had recently worked with getting candle flames to "jump" from one candle to the next, the girls believing that this would eventually teach people how to create and maintain fire whips.

"You're going to make a fire whip in the Charms classroom?" Teddy said.

They laughed at this. "Don't be silly," Hannah said. "It's just the underlying theory."

Normally when people, particularly girls, laughed at him, Teddy would feel embarrassed. Sitting in the inter-house common room though, at the small table with Dewey and the cute Ravenclaw girls, Teddy found he didn't mind. It felt rather nice actually.

"I wouldn't mind learning to make a fire whip, maybe I should start going to this club after all."

Dewey rolled his eyes, but the girls nodded. "Yeah, it's right up your alley," Mary said.

"Now if we can find a way to keep Kai out of there," Teddy said.

"That was fun," Teddy said as they were walking down the corridor back towards their common rooms."

Dewey was smiling quite broadly. "They were just being nice. Charms is my worst subject."

"Maybe you should be in the club after all," Teddy said.

"I'm going to drive Flitwick spare, I think," Dewey replied. The smile vanished from his face and he put a hand on Teddy's shoulder to stop him. "Did you hear that?" he whispered.

They were walking down the same second floor corridor that they had walked on a few weeks before when Teddy had overhead a voice speaking within a classroom.

"There?" Teddy whispered pointing at the same classroom door as before.

Dewey nodded. He quietly leaned the side of his head, along with his body against the door. Teddy carefully found a spot on the other half of the door. They waited like this for a nearly a minute. He was about to tell Dewey that it was nothing when,

"TEDDY LUPIN!"

Teddy jumped an inch, immediately grabbing his wand and throwing his head around. He realized a moment later though that he had been duped.

"Your face..." Dewey tried saying, between laughs. "You looked so..."

"Stupid," Teddy said for him. He punched his friend on the arm. "Clever trick Diggory."

Harry was right. The next morning at breakfast the front page of the Daily Prophet showed a lineup of surly looking Goblins.

**HOGWARTS ATTACKED AGAIN**

"Finally," he muttered after grabbing an abandoned paper from the table and sitting down to read it. Several of the students nearby gave shocked expressions of hearing this.

"Err- I didn't mean... I'm not happy about..." he started to say then gave up. "Never mind."

Clippy, who was already eating breakfast a few seats away grinned at him. Teddy gave an embarrassed shrug back.

_**"Goblins Met with Stiff Defense" **_

_Reporting by Lewis Hobfly._

_ Auror's clashed last week with a band of Goblins on the southern perimeter of Hogwart's castle. The goblins, led by a relative unknown, Nagnok, were quickly apprehended by the flank of Auror's led by Ronald Weasley. The Auror's however did not show up for almost four minutes following a secret alarm the Goblin's triggered in their attempt to break into the castle grounds. During that time the Goblin's tried several techniques to get past the Orange Wards, none to any success._

"_Yeah well, it takes us a bit of time to get everyone together, coordinate our plan, and move in situations like this. We moved extremely quickly and effectively all things considered," Weasly said about the Auror's attack. _

_Harry Potter, the head of the Auror Department, was unavailable for comment but his office sent the following written statement. "I am very pleased with the work of the Auror's on Hogwart's grounds. They responded promptly, were able to take the contingent of Goblins without anyone being killed, and most importantly demonstrated that since last year's attack, all of the training we have gone through regarding possible attacks on the school have been proven effective. We also owe a great deal of gratitude for the wizards who designed and installed the Orange Wards. They have proven to be an invaluable asset in securing the peace of mind for the Hogwarts community."_

_ While the testimony of the captured Goblins remains classified in order to better conduct the ongoing operations against the bands of violent Goblins still at large, the best guess as to what the group was after in their failed siege was to once again terrorize the students and families of the Hogwarts school. Considering the complete lack of success on the borders however, perhaps the Goblins will think twice before attempting this again._

Teddy read the article twice. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting to find here. If Harry wasn't telling him about the Pennines attack it would make sense that he wouldn't be telling the newspaper either. Still though, now five students all knew of another unreported attack. Was Seavelle perhaps incorrect in her reporting of the event? He glanced over to the staff table, where, as usual, Seavelle's seat remained empty. She generally showed up for Friday dinners and a meal or two throughout the week, but otherwise did not frequent the Great Hall.

The professors at the head table were each reading the Prophet, no doubt scrutinizing the Hogwarts Attack article as he did. The headmistress had a quill out and seemed to be jotting down notes on the paper. She looked up and searched the Gryffindor table before finding Teddy who was staring right back at her. He couldn't make out her expression; it was perhaps a confused frown, as if she was looking to him for a confirmation of something. Teddy broke eye contact with her, not sure he appreciated her mind going to him after reading an article like that. He glanced over at the Slytherin table and was not surprised to see Violet with her own copy of the prophet in hand, also looking at Teddy with an expression of puzzlement.


	8. Chapter 8 Rowley

**Chapter 8: Rowley**

"Alright everyone, take your seat, those toads aren't going to reconfigure their own skins."

Teddy and Kai were among the first people that day to get to class. It was the first day that they were going to be working with live animals and they were excited to put their new transfiguration skills to work.

"I practiced this last night on a firemander," Kai whispered.

"Did it work?" Teddy asked.

Kai shrugged. "It seemed healthy enough."

Teddy rolled his eyes.

"The key thing that we all must remind ourselves is that adding is better than removing. Add a wart, add a wrinkle, add a patch of skin- that's fine. Taking away what should be there and not replacing it is not," Curr said to the class. He wore an uncharacteristic scowl as he said this, suggesting very strongly that he had overseen just this sort of thing happen many a time and that the results were extremely unpleasant.

"You wouldn't believe how much work I needed to do to get ministry approval for this very lesson. The officials somehow believing that you would be foolish enough to conduct these experiments on your own."

Kai shifted uncomfortably next to Teddy at this.

"So we'll go slowly and work with some very simple modifications, starting with the front left leg..."

Teddy and Kai were both too nervous to try any large changes to the toad. A lot of the lesson felt like some of his early days at Hogwarts, waving his wand around and hoping nothing disastrous would follow.

Professor Curr didn't seem to mind the slow pace of the class. "Better to be confident with the theory than to just fling away with gusto," he said more than once.

Finally Kai managed to swap the entire skin of their toad with the more scaly and dusty dessert color of the Egyptian Blind Toad.

"I'm surprised," he said to Teddy as they were packing up. "I really thought you would be the first in the class to get this." Teddy had in fact changed the toad back to roughly his original make up (although the eyelids still had the highly droopy shape of the Blind Toad) before the end of the period.

"Why?" Teddy asked him, taken off guard. Kai didn't mess around when it came to discussing academic subjects.

"Because you're better at Transfig then me," he said.

"You think so?" Teddy asked him.

"Well duh, you're a metamorphmagus, I would hope you would do well in this subject."

Teddy thought about this for a moment and then nodded happily. "That's true."

He didn't notice Professor Curr waiting patiently behind him, evidently having tapped him on the shoulder a few times, until Kai saw him.

"Err, sorry, Professor," he said.

Curr shook his head good naturedly. "That's quite alright my boys. I wanted to speak with you two before you left though."

He gestured for them to take their seats from before and went over to his desk to pour himself a cup of tea. Teddy and Kai politely declined a glass when he offered.

"I noticed today that you two were the only ones in class to properly transfigure the toad," he said.

Teddy, not as used to being singled out for class work, blushed at this."Kai did, I messed up the eyes a bit."

Curr laughed a bit and once again shook his hand at them. "I expect you of all people to be more aware of the subtle physical changes."

Teddy nodded, not exactly sure what he wanted to say about the subject.

"The reason I have you both here though is because I was planning on doing a demonstration next class and was hoping you two could lead it."

Teddy and Kai glanced at one another, each shrugging and then nodding back at the professor.

"You don't want to know what you are signing up for first?" the diminutive professor asked them.

"Does it involve firemanders?" Kai said back innocently.

Curr shook his head. "I want you to work with Mr. Lupin here and see if you can make his skin turn your house colors, of if he can metamorphmagus instead into his house colors."

Teddy and Kai grinned at one another.

"That sounds good," Teddy said.

"Excellent," Curr said. "Now off you go."

They started once more to leave but Teddy noticed a picture that he hadn't seen before next to the door. It was of a group of mountains taken early in the morning. The sun shone brightly, casting the strangely black mountains in a glow. The caption at the bottom read, "_Pennines Mountain Range #42._"

"Professor?" Teddy asked still looking at the picture. "Are these the Pennines mountains in northern England?"

Curr, glanced over at Teddy and the picture from his desk. "Yes they are, beautiful site. I spent a few holidays there."

Kai was giving Teddy a let's wrap this up look, but Teddy ignored him. "Is this what the Black Stone gorge looks like?" he asked.

"I've never heard of that location," he said in a vaguely curious way. "Is it notable to you?"

Teddy wondered exactly what would be alright to admit considering he had never heard of his family's involvement with the mine until a week prior.

"Do you know much about prospectors?" he stumbled through the words. "I've recently found out that some of my distant relatives worked in the profession and don't know much about it."

Curr nodded and took a long thoughtful sip. "Difficult profession prospecting- I don't have any firsthand experience with mining but of course I have read up on their methods before. Most of the work a prospector does is transfiguration, charms too, of course, but the best work is done through transfiguration."

Teddy had never heard of this. He had generally assumed that miners simply blasted sections of the cave and then searched carefully through the rubble.

"Why is it difficult?" Teddy asked.

"Well, I don't know about your relatives and their successes with the work but history is full of wizards seeking gold and jewels and becoming lost in it."

The vast _Pennines Mountain Range_ did indeed look like the sort of place that a wizard could get lost within.

Curr corrected himself. "Not literally lost of course. I believe the claims every Prospecter works is outlined by a powerful identifier that they can find and of course, it prevents others from doing so. But when I say lost I mean when people's lives are spent pursuing gold and jewels. The lure of that sort of wealth can be corrupting."

Teddy frowned. This would explain how his godfather had come into his own fortune and why he had never mentioned his families work.

Curr took another sip of his drink and seemed to consider if he wanted to continue on the subject. "The act of finding precious metals isn't right or wrong obviously but it involves a struggle. Some people are content with what they find, some prospecters I'm sure are. But fortunes, they can be ever bigger and that sort of temptation has led some wizards to frantically guard their claims, to shut off from the rest of the world, to essentially trap themselves in the mountain.

"What about the goblins?" Kai asked, obviously not interested in the corruption of wealth.

"I'm sorry?" Curr asked.

"A lot of the rebellions take place in mines between those bands of goblins and the wizards who own the land. What good are the Goblins if the work requires charms and transfiguration?" he asked.

Curr smiled. "An excellent question and topical… Although I suppose we all have Goblins on the mind these days. We sometimes forget that there are other types of magic than the types we practice."

No one needed to remind Teddy or Kai about this considering their physical brushes with the creatures in the past year. The goblins seemed capable of the sorts of feats that house elves were able to do, and coupled with their impressive strength and ferocious natures made them more than a match for the average wizard.

"The goblins are much more comfortable underground than we wizards are," Curr said. "Their magic involves their connection to the ground; their awareness of where they are to the poles of the earth, like a compass. They can navigate and traverse the tunnels far better than we can."

Again Teddy was reminded of the miles of tunnels the Goblins had created running underneath the school. He had no idea where he was going for large stretches of that afternoon.

"That makes sense," Kai said.

"I don't understand how prospectors would use transfiguration to find precious gems though," Teddy said.

Curr looked at his watch. "I would love to explain to you boys in greater detail but I have a class soon and so do you."

"Yes Professor," they said to him and turned to leave.

"You know what?" Curr called to their backs. "The one you should really ask about prospecting and transfiguration is Dr. Babbit."

"What?" Teddy said back. His voice much louder than the situation properly warranted.

"Dr. Babbit," Curr repeated with a puzzled look on his face at Teddy's reaction. "He's a transfiguration expert. "Oh," he added in an afterthought. "You know what? Madame Seavelle also has mentioned her interest in the prospector's work to me before. Either one of them would be a good resource to check out."

Kai nudged Teddy in the ribs and then motioned for them to get moving. Once they were in the hallway Teddy rubbed his stomach. "What was that for?"

"You were making a fish face," Kai said. "Don't need another person in this castle convinced that you're barny."

It had quickly becoming obvious that No Quidditch and No Hogsmede was driving the student body restless. Evidently the other students had adopted Teddy's attitude that the house common room could be a stuffy boring place indeed. The library had quickly become a popular hangout (to the consternation of the librarian) and apparently the various student societies had swelled as well.

"There's no point in going to Charms Club anymore," Kai told Dewey as they took a spot in the Inter-house Common Room. "The only reason my house went was because no one else was there. Flitwick could devote his time to working on upper level stuff."

Violet rolled her eyes at this.

"What?" Kai said. He was still annoyed that she was demanding he go through with an oath ceremony, despite his now daily plea (or more like daily insistent rant) that she could take his word at face value.

"Nothing," she said.

"I don't mind going," Dewey said. "I seem to learn better in that environment."

Teddy chuckled at this but evidently no one noticed as they had to speak fairly loudly to be heard over the din. If the library and club rooms were busier than usual, it was nothing compared to the chaos of this new room.

"Aren't we supposed to be studying?" Stephen yelled.

"What?" Kai yelled back.

"Aren't we…" he stopped, noticing that Kai was grinning. "At least the library is sorta quiet," he said instead.

"This isn't so bad," Dewey said. It was poor timing considering he had barely finished the sentence when a paper airplane hit him right in the back of the head.

"Oh!" he said, glaring at the plane that had bent upon impact and now lay wounded on the ground, one of its wings still stubbornly lifting back and forth as it had in flight.

"Maybe we should go to the library," Teddy said as suddenly many more planes were now crisscrossing the room.

Someone charmed an entire box of chocolate frogs to fan out in a straight line down the center of the floor, a remarkable sight considering how the one thing you could generally expect the chocolate frogs to do was to hop out at a strange angle out of reach. These frogs all hopped forward though, as several unsuspecting students were smacked in the face by them.

The smarter, or at least more aware students, were now standing with their backs to the walls of the room. Some were pointing their wands and redirecting the paper airplanes at the hapless people stuck in the cross-fire. Some were firing streamers and balloons in their house colors into the fray. One Ravenclaw first year, who was wiry and had heavy eye brows (Kai referred to him as "the animal") launched himself right through several banners.

"Aaaahh," he screamed as he knocked paper airplanes and various flying debris down. He plucked several of the frogs out of mid air and put them in his pocket before running back to his original spot on the fringe.

Teddy and his friends had quickly found their own location on the wall and Violet was grabbing their sleeves to try and pull them out the door.

"Do we have to…" Kai started, but seeing the look on her face stopped talking and followed.

"You ok?" Teddy asked her. He noticed that even though they hadn't gone anywhere they were all breathing as if they had just finished a run, and that even worse, Violet seemed shaky and pale.

"That place was an absolute mad house," she said.

"I know!" Kai agreed.

"I mean that escalated fast," she said. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply once through her nose.

Teddy must have given her a weird look because she glared at him.

"Honestly, you worry too much. I just needed to get out of there because we couldn't hear each other anymore and because I wanted to tell you something," she said looking at Kai.

"What's that?"

Her eyebrows raised and her lips curved into a small smile. "If you still want that thing back then make it over to Slytherin tonight because I found someone to perform the oath ceremony."

Now they were all staring at her oddly.

"What?" she snapped back.

"Uhm Ms. Parkinson- you do know this school is on an intense curfew and the hallways are crawling with watcher-outers," Kai said. "And we obviously don't have a map to see whose where because if we did then I wouldn't even be considering your crazy plan."

"You are considering it?" Teddy asked wondering how Kai could possibly plan to evade the various teachers and prefects on the long trek between the Ravenclaw tower and the Slytherin dungeons.

"Well yeah, I mean we've done it before."

"We?" Teddy said.

"Well, I don't know about Stephen," he said and then quickly added, "no offense" to him. "But yeah, you, Dewey, Violet- we've obviously got some luck on our side."

Dewey sighed and looked over to Violet.

"Well that wasn't in my plan but you boys certainly do seem to get annoyed when one of us is excluded from anything," she said with a smirk. "The hard part is getting down to Slytherin's hallway. If you can get there at ten, we can take care of the rest."

"How?" Teddy asked.

"Rowley," she and Stephen answered.

The plan was relatively simple. Since they didn't have the Marauder's Map or any sort of invisibility cloak, they couldn't count on sneaking past people unaware. That meant minimizing the amount of time they would spend in the actual hallways. So the best bet would be to hole up in a classroom near Slytherin, wait till the corridor seemed clear, cross their fingers, and rush over to find Violet and Stephen.

"Do any of you know the classrooms in the dungeons?" Dewey asked Teddy and Kai. The three of them were walking in slow circles between the inter-house common room and the library a few floors away, it seemed the only way they could get any privacy and, more importantly, the only quiet place in the castle.

"I'm not sure if there are any down there, besides the Potions labs and Slytherin," Dewey continued, looking very unsure with this plan.

"Filch's office," Kai added. The two boys scowled at him.

"So the main floor then," Teddy said, "Isn't Dr. Babbit's classroom somewhere near the Great Hall?"

"Nope," said Kai. "but that reminds me, you know a room underneath the great hall we could hide in."

"Do you think they would let us in?" Teddy said. The last few times he had gone to the kitchens and spoke with the house elves he had either tricked some of the elves or coerced them into fairly unpleasant missions.

"Are you kidding? It would make their week," Kai said. "Besides," he added looking over at Dewey. "Aren't you and Mercy still picnicking down there once a week?"

"We weren't picnicking," Dewey sputtered, his face bright red. "Mercy,_ Sung-Hee_, and I all went down there a few times to thank the elves."

"Is that what the kids are calling it?" Kai said.

"We were giving them the gifts that the Huffelpuff's put together and…" Dewey stopped when he noticed that both Kai and Teddy were trying their hardest not to laugh. "Oh forget it," he said.

Dewey's face did not return to its normal color for quite awhile. As Kai had predicted, the house elves were delighted to greet the trio after they tickled the giant pear in the tapestry and entered the kitchen.

"Mr. Teddy Lupin!" squealed Teazle. The little elf was up to his elbows in soapy water and did not bother to dry them before running over and wrapping his arms around Teddy in a fierce hug.

Other elves were also dropping their work and hurrying over. "It's Mr. Dewey Diggory!" said Lolo, another elf that had helped them the previous spring. She wrapped him up in her own hug before breaking away to ask, "Where is your Mercy Burbage?"

Dewey shot a look at Kai and then glanced back at the elf. "It's just us tonight. Actually, we were wondering if we could ask you a favor."

Lolo and Teazle shared an apprehensive look. "We will do our best," Lolo said back somewhat timidly.

"No, no," Teddy cut in, "you don't need to worry. It's nothing dangerous."

Teazle laughed nervously. "We thinks you have a different idea of what is dangerous Mr. Teddy Lupin."

"Honestly," Kai said. "We just need to see our friends in Slytherin but will get in trouble if someone see's us in the hallway. All we need is to hang out here for a bit. And maybe some food."

"Kai!" Dewey admonished.

But the house elves didn't seem bothered by this request at all. Teazle and Lolo led the boys over to a table near the center of the kitchen and soon they were seated around it, working on cold sandwiches and glasses of pumpkin juice.

"What?" Kai asked Dewey who was glaring at him. "That was probably the smartest thing I could have said."

Teddy nodded. "What else were we going to do down here for two hours? Watch them clean?"

"We could offer to help," Dewey said slowly. "Weren't you the one who wanted to restart SPEW last year?"

Teddy sighed. "They seem to like cooking and cleaning, though- I mean," his words trailed off into a sheepish smile. He decided to quickly change the subject. "You know Kai, while I understand why we need this, whatever it is…"

"I haven't named it yet, but you can call it a map," Kai replied.

"Ok, yeah this map. I get that we need it to make the flying park."

"Flying park?" Dewey asked, his eye brows raised.

Teddy nodded. "But, even before we met the Punkers, you've seemed dead set on bringing flying skateboards into the school, and sneaking around and you know…"

Kai's eyes narrowed. "You're making it sound like a bad thing."

"Well- no- I like most of your ideas…" Teddy admitted. "They are probably better than whatever I wanted to sneak off to."

"TEDDY LUPIN," Dewey said in his spooky voice once again.

Teddy rolled his eyes. "I just mean, it seems like you're on a mission, I don't know the best way to describe it, like you want to see what you can get away with, like your…"

"On a crusade?" Kai offered.

"Yeah- like that," Teddy finished. He sat back in his chair and picked up his goblet of pumpkin juice which wonderfully filled every time he finished it.

"You sound like Violet," Kai said. "Or like your gran. Or like Cho."

"Does this have anything to do with Cho?" Dewey asked rather quietly.

"What?" Kai replied, "Does what? Trying to make a map so we can get around this castle without getting nicked by some stupid prefect? I don't see the connection."

Dewey did not reply to this but Teddy guessed that his friend was thinking along the same lines as himself- that the Chang siblings seemed awfully combative at the Hogwarts Express and that Kai was probably responding to something between them. It was hard to tell though, when exactly you are supposed to worry about someone- he wasn't sure he would want Kai telling him what to do, especially if it was something between his Gran and himself.

"Look guys," Kai said after an uncomfortable silence. "I realized over the summer that having a map like Teddy had last year was dead useful. It's a much bigger deal than flying parks and skateboards. I mean, if last year showed us anything, it's that knowing where other people are really matters."

No one said anything to this. The boys taking their time to finish the food before heading over to the Slytherin dungeon.

"Now what?" Dewey said as the three stared at the Slytherin door.

It was a fair question- they really should have gotten more specifics from Violet before agreeing to meet her. They could knock- but if anyone else heard them they would be at the mercy of the house to not rat them out. While Teddy had gathered a certain amount of respect from the people of the house, he wouldn't put it past their members to try and take advantage of finding him and his friends in the hallway.

"Whatever it is we need to do it now," Kai said. He seemed to just now realize that they were perched out in the hallway and that any minute they might be spotted.

Teddy took a deep breath and then raised his fist to knock on the door. His hand did not connect with the wood though, or it might as well not have considering it made no sound.

"What the..." he started to say but stopped himself as the wall started to open a few feet down.

"Did you do that?" Dewey said in a panicked voice.

"Don't be stupid, he couldn't do something like that," Kai said.

"It happened right as his hand came down though," Dewey persisted.

"I'm not blind; I just think there's a better explanation."

Ignoring his bickering friends, who were making a lot of noise and really were going to get them caught if they didn't shut up, Teddy hurried over to the newly formed crack in the wall. It came to waist height on the average wizard but it was impossibly narrow. It seemed a house cat would barely be able to slink through. He tried peering into the hole but all he could see was darkness.

"I'm going to try knocking again," he told his friends who had stopped arguing and were trying to get a view over his shoulder. "Maybe if I knock it will make this big enough for us to get in."

"I'm telling you it's not your knocking..." Kai started to say, but as he was speaking something reached out and grabbed one of Teddy's spare hands. Suddenly Teddy's body had pivoted so he was perpendicular with the wall, and a moment later he felt himself slide through as if he were a piece of paper.

It was a bit like apparition, the flattening out and being sucked through a tube aspect, except there was perhaps a meter between the hallway and the tiny little room that Teddy was moved into. Despite knowing they had arranged to meet them, he was surprised that Violet and Stephen were already waiting for him. Most surprising though was who was holding his hand.

"Rowley?" he said to one of Madame's house elves- the elf with the nicked nose.

Rowley's eyebrows raised a bit and he smiled. He let go of Teddy's hand and reached out through the hole in the wall and quickly he moved Dewey and Kai next to him, breathing hard but otherwise none the worse for wear.

"Where are we?" Teddy asked.

Rowley, who was no longer wearing his blue vest, but still wore his white shirt and blue pants, shrugged. "Madame said it's our fainting room."

The boys looked at the Slytherin's for help but they seemed to find their confusion funny.

"It's definitely not on the map," Kai said finally.

"About that..." said the only stranger in the room, or at least, he had not actually met the Slytherin prefect yet. "I looked at it and it doesn't seem like it's going to work- I mean you know you would need-"

"Hey," Kai interrupted her. "I know what I'm doing alright? I've worked it out."

She smiled back at him. "Just let me know before you drag any Slytherins in alright?"

He smiled back at her sarcastically. "I'll be sure to do that."

Violet, who was standing between the Slytherins and the boys and watching each with a careful eye, cleared her throat. "Well. Let's get this over with. They need to get back."

Teddy smacked his forehead. He had been so curious as to what this ceremony would involve that he hadn't considered that it would be far more difficult for them to get back up to their dorms. Perhaps they could just rest in this room?

"Oh, and this is Ursula. Don't worry (she added quickly looking at Kai), she got top OWL's in charms."

"Have you done this before?" he asked her.

She smiled back at him again. "Do you really want to know?"

They took spots opposite each other towards the empty end of the room, everyone else taking a seat on the little squashy bean bag chairs scattered across the floor.

"How do you know him?" Teddy whispered to Stephen. They were all waiting quietly while Ursula was going over some notes she had prepared with Kai.

Stephen glanced at the house elf. "He was the only one to speak to us when delivering notes. We sorta befriended him."

Teddy wrinkled his nose. "Delivering notes? You guys send house elves to deliver notes to one another?"

"What?" Stephen asked confused. "When Madame needs something she sometimes sends her elves."

"Oh," Teddy said, although this wasn't any less odd of a thing to hear.

"Who did you think I was talking about?" Stephen asked.

"Never mind, they're starting," Teddy muttered. They stopped talking and watched as Kai clasped one of Ursula's hands tightly. The two were staring at one another and each seemed to be concentrating very intently; so much so that Kai did not roll his eyes or smirk (as he tended to) when he said the word 'Vi'.

"On my magical ability as my word and bond," Ursula said.

"On my magical ability as my word and bond," Kai repeated.

She let go of his hand and took a step back from him.

"That's it?" Kai asked in disbelief.

"That's it," she said. "Try it."

Kai looked at Violet and then back at Ursula. He licked his lips nervously. "Ok... Hey Violet... Violet... I'm going to call you VIOLET, VIOLET, you are Violet. Wow I really can't say violet can I? Maybe if I say it fast _VIOLET-VIOLET-VIOLET_. Wow Violet."

"Ok, stop," Violet said. "That's almost as annoying as the nickname."

Kai smiled widely at her before turning to Teddy and Dewey. "OK, I can no longer physically say the dreaded name- let's get out of here."

"Not so fast," Ursula said. She crossed over to the corner of the room where she had laid down her school bag and starting digging through it.

"Here," she said, handing over the still blanketed, quaffle-sized item that Caicus had taken from them on the train.

"Seriously?" he asked.

She smiled her mysterious smile back at him. "You earned it… Also it's never going to work."

Kai didn't bother with any sort of retort. His look to Teddy and Dewey indicated that he wouldn't be complaining for awhile because, right now, all was right with the world.


	9. Chapter 9 Fighting with Friends

**Chapter 9: Fighting with Friends**

Weeks passed and it seemed that Teddy and his friends were no nearer to figuring out their map than they had been before Kai obtained the mysterious object from Ursula. He supposed they should make it a priority, especially considering how helpful it would be at the moment. He knew his way around the castle just fine, but as he ran down the hallway, he kept two fingers crossed in the hopes of not being discovered at that time of night.

How many people were after him? Four? Six? He didn't turn around, rather Teddy kept racing down the corridor. A suit of armor next to him pinged loudly from a spell, the helmet jostling up and down on it's collar. Something bright orange sailed over his shoulder and hit a painting although he didn't stop to see the damage.

They were on the second floor of the castle, lunging past classrooms that were likely empty at this time of day. Teddy thought about trying the door handles that he was running past but he didn't think he had time for it. They were too close behind. What had the map said about this hallway? He knew there was a secret staircase around here somewhere- behind a tapestry somewhere. He turned the corner into another deserted hallway, the footsteps not that far behind him.

Up ahead a staircase- there was his best best. Fingers crossed, he launched a blasting spell at a coat of arms hanging near a torch in the stairwell. The spell connected with a mace and knocked it off its perch. There was a loud _clang_ followed by _clang, clang, clang_ as the instruement crashed down each subsequent step. He didn't get a chance to see how far down it would fall though as he dashed behind a nearby tapestry and waited, willing himself to thin out so much that there was still a few centimeters between his body and the painting. He stood there, working hard to calm his body down and to breath quietly. He waited. And then footsteps raced past his alcove and down the steps.

He listened to them continue running and smiled. First years could be pretty gullible.

"I don't know who did this or what they think they were doing," Neville Longbottom said to the Gryffindor common room. "But I am not at all happy about it."

He was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace while the rest of the house sat silently in the various chairs lining it. From the looks of it, most people had not heard of the events that had transpired and instead were looking back and forth at their friends with do-you-have-any-idea-what-happened frowns.

"Nobody enjoys being stuck in the castle, and I can imagine you are all pretty restless without Quidditch."

There were a lot of muttered agreements to this and a few choice words about the headmaster that Neville seemed to willfully ignore.

"But the curfew is here for a very good reason- there are people out there that want to break into this castle and to harm our community."

"Goblins," someone said.

"Gobins- right- yeah. There are Goblins that just a few weeks ago were trying to break into the school grounds. If, and I absolutely hope it never happens, but if they are successfull, we need to know where everyone is, and we need to get everyone into places that we know we can defend."

Teddy grimaced. It was twice now that he had snuck around the school since these rules had been put into place and if Kai is successful with the new map, it would likely be many more times. It was exactly the type of thing that his Gran and Harry would tell him explicitly not to do. On the other hand it's exactly the type of thing Harry, Ron and Hermoine would do anyway.

Vin's hand was raised and Neville, apparently finished with his speech, nodded at him. "Do we have any idea of when the curfew will go away? I think people will be more... cooperative, if they knew when they could expect things to get better."

Neville started to shake his head and respond, but Colin, who also had his hand raised had another question. "Will there be Quidditch next term? I've heard some people talking about an indoor league in the Great Hall."

"Will there be chaperoned Floo Network trips to Hogsmede?" another person asked. "I can't see how the Floo Network is in danger of a Goblin attack..."

"Any chance they're going to put a bar in for the seventh years?" one seventh year asked with a grin.

Neville rolled his eyes at the last question and put both of his hands up to stop the barrage of questions. "OK," he said. "So it looks like I was correct that you guys are going stir crazy... To be honest, I don't know when the new restrictions will go away. From reading the prophet, there are a lot of articles describing the progress being made in the wizard-goblin battles, but... I'm guessing nothing will be changing anytime soon."

Something in his irratated expression softened, and he paused for a moment. "Tell you what, I'll let your prefects hear your suggestions- try to be realistic and remember this is a school not your mates vacation home- but list your ideas for things we could be hosting indoors. I'll talk to your prefects and bring the ideas to the Headmistress. Sound good?"

He asked the question more to the prefects than to the house, Vin looking very much like this was the last thing he wanted to do, but they nodded back to him.

"Good," he said and turned to leave. "And Mr. Lupin, I need to speak with you in my office."

Teddy swallowed and nodded trying not to look guilty. He snuck a look at Kaitlin and Clippy who were seated nearby and there scared expressions did not bode well for him.

"Is this about what you were talking about before?" Teddy asked Neville as they left the common room and headed down the hall toward the Head of Houses office.

Neville gave him a strange look and then shook his head. "No, I didn't want to tell everyone in there but your godfather is in the castle and wanted to see you."

Teddy blinked. "Really? Right now?"

Neville nodded and opened his door. Harry had his back to the two and was examing the various plants that Neville kept on his bureau. He turned around and smiled at them.

"You brought him, excellent. Hopefully it's not a bad time."

Neville was still looking at Teddy carefully since his original question but did not answer either way. He cast a spell at his desk and the two chairs on either side pulled back a few feet to allow Teddy and Harry to take a seat.

"Do you guys need me?" Neville asked.

Harry shook his head. "I told Ginny I would be home before eight though- little Lilly is teething."

Neville grimaced and clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder. "That's never fun mate. Hannah never let me put a little firewhiskey on the pacifer."

They chuckled and Harry added, "It's not that bad. Nowhere near as bad as James. That kid..." he paused, perhaps thinking of a loving and diplomatic way to frame his words, after a bit though he just shook his head, "we could have a dozen more kids and no one would be the same way." He looked mildly horror stricken at the notion. "Not that we are having twelve more kids- Teddy don't tell your aunt any of this."

Teddy grinned but nodded.

There was a pause and then Neville broke the silence. "Teddy", he said somewhat heavily. "Do I want to ask?"

The two shared a quick look, Teddy working very hard to look innocent. Finally Neville sighed.

"Yeah I won't. Just understand that it will be twice as bad if you are caught by me. Ok?"

Teddy nodded, looking away from Harry.

"Good then. Always great to see you Harry- stop by longer next time and we'll find drinks somewhere in this castle and have a great night. Be sure to tell Ginny and everyone I say 'hi'."

"Will do Neville. Ron and I will get out here sometime- maybe we can have a brain trust of sorts."

They shared a laugh that Teddy suspected he wasn't meant to join in as neither of them looked at him during this exchange. Strange, considering of the three he was the only one at the dinner party that they were surely mocking. He could hear Neville still chuckling after he closed the door and started walking down the hall.

"So what's Neville letting you get away with this time?" Harry asked him.

"A few friends and I were on off-limits floors and we knocked a mace off a wall and down a few steps," he answered.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Off-limits?" he asked.

Teddy knew what he was getting at, but didn't say anything.

"You do know why they call the areas dead zones right?... I'll give you a hint- it's the name."

Teddy rolled his eyes at this but answered. "Off-limits, like we can't be there past curfew."

Harry nodded and then was quiet for a moment. He did this, Teddy knew, when he was annoyed at you and wanted to make you feel uncomfortable through silence. This usually worked, Teddy would start babbling on and on and before he knew it all his prevarications and half-truths would be exposed. Except this time he did not do this.

"Do you know what scares me about orange wards Teddy?" he asked.

Teddy shook his head.

"They are nearly impossibe for Goblins to get through. The team that worked on them created a brilliant Goblin defense. Wizards though... Wizards should be able to figure out how to get through."

Teddy glanced out towards the door. "You think Babbit..." he started to say but a suddenly livid Harry had flicked his wand up and sonoroused the room- effectively cutting him off.

"Teddy!" he said. "You need to think before you say things, ok?"

"I'm sorry," Teddy said. "I should have known better- I've been working hard this year not to investigate anybody."

Harry who had taken a deep breath to calm himself, managed to chucked a little at this. "It's alright, I should have charmed the room anyway. You did nothing worse than me..." He looked down at his wand which was flicking back and forth in some sort of complicated pattern for a spell that Teddy did not recognize. This was a different type of silence, where his godfather was trying to piece together some things and wasn't paying much attention to anyone else. Finally he looked back.

"Have you heard anything about Dragon Bandits?" Harry asked.

"What?" Teddy replied.

"Have you heard anything recently about them?" Harry asked again.

Teddy nodded. "Yeah, Violet asked me about them."

Harry picked a small notepad out of his breast pocket and also what Teddy recognized from his DA time last year as a muggle pen. He started writing quickly.

"Did she say who told her about it?" he asked.

"No," Teddy replied. "She asked if you had told me anything about it."

Harry stopped writing and looked back at him. "Did she?..." he flipped the pen against his chin a number of times and stared again down towards the desk. "Do you think she knows more about it?" he asked.

Teddy shrugged. "No- but she's full of surprises."

Harry nodded. "I wish I could stay longer." he said before getting up and giving Teddy a tight hug. "Please keep this quiet, including from your friends, for now. I need to find out a bit more first and don't want anyone being notified of anything."

"You think Violet would…" Teddy started but Harry firmly shook his head.

"No, I trust Violet. But if there is someone else that is getting to her- I don't know if I can trust them. Keep quiet on this until you hear from me ok? Unless you find out more and then go straight to Neville."

Teddy frowned but nodded anyway.

"Keep writing. Keep out of trouble. Everyone at home has the highest expectations of you," Harry said. And then he was out the door and heading quickly down the hall, to have conversations that Teddy doubted he would be hearing about for a very long time.

The next morning, Teddy was making his way to the Great Hall when Violet found him. She didn't say hi, but rather yanked him to the side of the entrance way.

"Did you know your Godfather was going to question me?" she demanded.

He hadn't spoken to Violet since the oath ceremony a few days ago and was looking forward to talking to her about how she and Stephen befriended Seavelle's elf Rowley. It was clear though that she wasn't in any mood to chit chat.

"I had no idea," he told her.

"Really?" she asked. He had seen her angry before, including at him, but she seemed particularly upset this morning.

"Yeah- he found me too. I had no idea," he replied.

He leaned around her hoping to find a Gryfindor friend, or Kai or Dewey so he could excuse himself and talk to her later when she wasn't in such a state. She merely slid her body over a bit to block his path.

"He mentioned that you told him about me," she said.

"I told him you mentioned those things (he said carefully) and that was it," Teddy said.

She glared at him. "You couldn't have told me first?"

"What?" He asked. "I told you I didn't know I was going to see him, how would I tell you first?"

"You make something up Teddy and then you let me know. Then I tell him everything when I'm not on the spot," she said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

He gaped at her. "Why would I lie? He wasn't mad at you."

She turned away from him and spoke quieter. "Stephen said I shouldn't have just asked you about the Dragon Bandits."

Teddy, despite being annoyed with her for voicing Stephen's obnoxious advice, was aware that there were students streaming past them on the way to the great hall, and that hearing them whisper about Dragon Bandits was a bad idea. This time he grabbed her arm and pulled her so that they were a good distance from the entrance way.

"Let's call them Fire thieves ok?" he said. He then called Stephen a word that he certainly hoped Violet would not repeat to his Gran.

"He has more sense than you," she snapped and without another word she turned and left.

Teddy looked around for a moment to see if anyone else had witnessed the exchange. It almost felt like a dream. Another arm yanked him though. This time it was Edan and he was leading him with the rest of the boys from his year to their breakfast table.

He was in the process of buttering his toast when yet another arm grabbed him to get his attention.

"So what happened?" Kaitlin asked. She had the habit of appearing at the side Teddy was not looking at and acting like she was waiting for him to respond to her for quite some time. It was sometimes amusing, sometimes vexing. This morning though…

"Nothing," Teddy replied shortly as he took a small bite from his breakfast. One of the Hogsmede post owl's dropped down next to his plate and held her leg out for Teddy to remove the letter. The muggle envelope that Chole had used didn't quite fit on the Owl's leg, and she seemed anxious for Teddy to remove it. He did so and then offered her some of his toast.

"Did you get- you know?" Kaitlin asked dropping her voice down.

She wore a concerned expression on her face, as did Clippy who was following along next to her. He noticed that, like the Punker's, her robe ran a few inchs short on her arms so that a stretchy golden sleeve that ran to her forearm was visible. Both she and Clippy had a scarlet patch near their left shoulder with a large blocky G in the middle. She caught him appraising the two of them and scowled.

"Well?" she said. "Are we all?.."

"No," he said again. "And you can stop bloody asking me everything twice, ok?"

For a moment she looked hurt by his tone, but just as quickly she had her back to him and was quietly talking with Clippy. Teddy turned and opened his letter from Chloe. She had perked up quite a bit since her lonely letter from the beginning of the semester. She was attending a new and larger school in London, that, while not magical, was certainly exciting enough. She seemed to fit in nicely there and Teddy wondered while reading it why exactly she was still writing to him.

He did not look up when Kaitlin and Clippy left, merely muttering back a frosty goodbye to each of them.

He expected that he would feel bad later for being rude to them, but at the moment just wanted to go back to bed.

Despite Teddy's rough beginning to the day, he and Kai's Transfiguration went much better than Teddy had expected it to. Kai had the tendency to show off his magical abilities, the more people, he expected, the bigger the show Kai would put on. It turned out though that he was no match for Teddy.

"Stand still," Kai demanded as he sent yet another spell at Teddy.

"I haven't moved," Teddy replied, causing the already tittering class to giggle.

"Well- stop... Stop- just give me a second to try something," Kai said through clenched teeth.

Like when they were first working with the toads, Kai initally was reluctant to take any large scale swipes at Teddy's appearance. This quickly changed however after he sent a large scar down Teddy's forehead.

"I'm sorry," he uttered, putting his wand down and looking like he had done something unforgiveable.

It was a cosmetic spell though- they didn't hurt if you were doing it properly and Teddy just laughed. He concentrated on the shape of the jagged scar and managed to crook it towards the top and the bottom until it looked just like…

"Please be serious Mr. Potter- I mean Lupin," Professor Curr admonished from the sideline with obvious pleasure. He had mentioned to Teddy that he had never taught a metamorphmagus before and then told him quite seriously that he expected top marks from him on his end of the year exams.

The Lightening Bolt scar was all the go ahead Kai needed and soon he was firing spells at Teddy as quickly as possible, changing a hand, half of his neck, his wrist, even his hair bright red and black.

His summer practicing had given Teddy a much more immediate control of his personal transformations and not only was he able to slide the affected skin right back to Scarlet or Gold but he was also able to change his facial features to resemble Kai- he kept the lighting bolt scar though.

"If you want to make this any fairer, I could have someone in here tie a blindfold around me," Teddy said to Kai who looked like he was about at the end of his tether.

Professor Curr, who looked to be enjoying the battle as much as the class reveresed all of the colors on Teddy and removed the scar on his forehead.

"I think it's only fair," he added, looking at Kai good humoredly. "That you get a chance to defend yourself Kai. Let's see if Teddy is half as good at changing others as he is himself."

Of course he wasn't, but it was a much more even fight which allowed the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors to cheer on their respective classmate. Curr finally broke up the demonstration after both Kai and Teddy were winded and covered in various house colors (Teddy suspected some of the Ravenclaws in the audience were clever enough to silently cast spells at him). Kai was in high spirits at the end of the lesson.

"That could be a game you know," he said to Teddy as they were packing their bags. "Teams of wizards could each have their own colors."

"Yeah, we could play it at the flying park," Teddy said. He was joking but Kai's eyes widened and he nodded vigorously.

"Absolutey! It would be kind of kiddie if we did it on the ground- but to have teams do that in the air..." he didn't finish the thought, instead he dug into his school bag until he found the peice of parchment that he was looking for and rolled it open to jot some notes down.

"Put that away," Teddy hissed. Kai had pulled out the flying park plans for the Room of Requirement in the middle of the corridor, with their fellow Ravenclaw's and Gryffindor's walking right past them.

"What?" Kai said distractedly as he scribbled numbers down at the bottom of the sheet.

Teddy grabbed the parchment, rolled it up, and stuffed it back into Kai's bag.

"Do you ever learn your lesson?" he asked him.

Kai rolled his eyes but did not take the parchment back out. Instead he whispered to Teddy, "we need a name."

"What?"

"You know- like the Marauders, something cool like that. For the map..." he had glanced down at his bag and all of a sudden Teddy realized that the parchment Kai was working on wasn't just a blue print for the flying park.

"Is it ready?" Teddy asked looking down at the bag and then back to Kai.

Kai shook his head. "We have some work to do... Actually I wanted to talk to you about that. I'm going to need some help from people in my house with some of the charms."

He stopped and looked for a moment uncharacteristically timid and uncomfortable, "But I think I need your involvement to get them."

Teddy frowned. "Me?"

Kai nodded. "Dewey too."

Later that evening, all the Gryffindors were instructed to meet in the common room to discuss the indoor activities that the prefects would suggest to Neville. The couches and chairs lining the fireplace were crowded with people and Teddy, who was running late, had to stand in the back along with Albert and Colin.

"Alright guys, lets make this quick and then you can go back to what you were doing," said Vin. Next to him, Sarah was holding a clipboard and a pen and already taking notes on the meeting.

"I've already spoken with Professor Longbottom about playing Quidditch inside- they don't want anyone flying indoors."

There were much louder and clearer cries of protest.

Vin held up his hands. "Yes I told him all of these things, in a more, civil way, and he wouldn't budge. The good news though is that he was talking to the headmistress and she said that the ward team who set up the castle's new defenses are reviewing their work and ensuring that the perimeters are fully guarded. So... he can't guarentee it but it looks like Quidditch will be back for a shortened season next term."

Their common room exploded with this news. Teddy and his second year friends all clapping each other on the back and hugging one another.

"Yeah, alright, yeah," Vin shouted. "For now though the professors are sick of the 'excess energy' of the students and are looking for things we can do. No flying, no fighting, no bars…" he added the last thing at the seventh year students. One of which raised an eyebrow at Vin and said, "good luck."

The Gryffindors laughed at this and then Sarah, still writing in her clipboard said, "We thought it would be easier if people just give us their ideas and then everyone can discuss it right away."

Julie was one of the first to raise her hand. "I was talking to some people in other houses and they are trying to get a Ball at Hogwarts."

The boys groaned at this causing Julie to flush but she added, "A ball that the students can put together."

Vin nodded at this, "They will like that. Gets students involved. Right, then anything else?"

Roger, a fifth year student that Teddy particularly disliked, suggested that Hogwarts create an indoor racing course. "You won't need much, just some flying hoops and a decent amount of space."

"Really?" Vin responded. "Were you not here a minute ago? No indoor flying."

"They have indoor events all over Europe," he persisted. "There was one in a Scottish castle last summer."

"No Indoor Flying," Vin snapped. "Come on, let's get something else."

One of the smaller first years that Teddy hadn't really spoken to raised his hand. "Is there a way we could have a Runes Club, like Charms and Transfiguration societies?"

Vin gave the tiny boy a curious look. "Runes?"

The first year nodded. "I know we can't interfere with the castle's Wards, but I would enjoy learning more about how they work and I think others would too."

Teddy agreed and saw several other people nodding as well.

"Yeah good idea er, Suchy... Suche..."

"Such-in" the first year said back, his dark skin flushing just a bit. This was the first time Teddy had heard him speak.

"Suchin- yeah. Ok. Any other ideas?" Vin asked. "Lupin?"

Teddy who had been watching Suchin and not paying attention swivled his head around. "What? I didn't say anything?"

Vin shrugged. "You seem full of crazy ideas in the past- I wanted to know if you were holding out on us."

Teddy thought about it. "Well my friend Kai mentioned this transfiguration game where teams of people try to turn the other group a different color."

"That mouthy Ravenclaw," muttered Roger and a few of his friends snickered.

Vin frowned. "Maybe... they said no fighting though."

Teddy glanced at Clippy and then said, "Some people like dinner parties, I guess."

There was silence at this from the room, everyone looking back at their friends and then at Teddy. Then everyone started to laugh.

"Dinner parties?" Vin said. "Oh Lupin, don't ever change."


	10. Chapter 10 Charming Girls

**Chapter 10: Charming Girls**

While Potions with Professor Slughorn had never exactly been dull, it never really was thrilling either. Perhaps this was because Teddy was just a first year and the introduction to Potions was basically a survey on the instruments they would be using and also getting to know the ingredients. And while the material from Potion's Standard Book of Spells Year Two was certainly more involved and more interesting than the materials they covered last year, the heightened atmosphere of the class suggested there was more to it.

"Spot on," Seavelle cried causing half the class to jump a bit in their skin. She rarely left her spot in the front of the class; the days she lectured, she generally did so from her seat. Today though she was following Fernius around and inspecting the children's work, and had noticed that Decima and Nagaenna's potion was apparently flawless.

"This is NEWT grade ladies, very clean work. Keep it up."

The girls beamed with pride and Teddy was surprised to see that neither of them cast an arrogant smile towards the Gryffindors or their fellow classmates, each merely quietly smiled and then diligently went back to work. It was the type of thing a Quidditch star might do after making an improbably good play.

Seavelle meanwhile had resumed pacing the room. Like Fernius (who she was currently following in his wake and double checking his examinations), she gave but the most passing glance at the potion itself. Instead she would run a finger over the chopped roots, hold a mixed vial to the light, or perhaps silently instruct the student to give the potion a few more stirs.

Teddy found himself, from the first class on, paying closer attention than he normally did in school. He attributed that to pairing himself with two of the hardest working people in the class (Violet and Stephen still were among the first to class every day and regularly secured the front and center table in the room). What Teddy found remarkable though was that it wasn't just the Slytherins who were preoccupied with doing well in the class. His own classmates were far quieter, far more serious, and far more competitive within the room.

Madame's involvement today seemed only to make people more determined. "Marvelous," she exclaimed. Teddy, along with the others in the front row, turned to see Seavelle scrutinizing the surface of Julie and April's potion. "Honestly... Fernius come and see this."

Fernius made his way over to the potion and took his own perch near the chamber.

"Great color, fine temperature control," she said.

He nodded and then gave the girls his usual playful smile. "Fine work ladies."

They were working on a purifying potion. Stephen had declared in the beginning of the class that this was relatively easier than most of the other potions that they had been recently working on and that it should be a piece of cake. For whatever reason, Stephen was having an especially difficult time with the day's potions work.

"Stephen," Violet said in exasperation after he had added the right ingredient at the wrong time (better Teddy thought then his previous error of adding the wrong ingredient at the right time).

Stephen screwed his eyes up in frustration. "I know, I know- sorry. I'll fix it."

Violet looked over at Decima and Nagaeena's potion in annoyance but didn't say anything. The three worked double time for the rest of class, Teddy in his usual role as the slicer, the masher, the shaker of things, Stephen stirring and adding bits of this and that, while Violet sat staring motionlessly at the cauldron. Teddy was always impressed by whatever internal clock she possessed as without hesitation she would point to Stephen and say, 'Now' and he would proceed to drop in the next ingredient or to stir it. The truth was the two Slytherin's were absolutely in sync while making their potions. They didn't need to say much of anything to each other but they seemed to know exactly what the other person needed at the time. He hated to admit it but there was a part of him that enjoyed Stephen being the bumbling one at the potion's table.

"Alright everyone," Fernius said getting everyone's attention. "Hopefully you've finished your work because class is ending momentarily. Please bring a labeled vial with your potion in it for grading."

Stephen cast another apologetic look at Violet before filling the group's vial up and bringing it to the front of the class.

As soon as he had left the table, Teddy felt a kick to his ankle. He glanced over at Violet who was looking at Teddy in much the same way. They glanced down, under the table, and to their surprise, Rowley, was grinning up at them.

"Uh, hi?" Teddy said to him.

"Hello Mr. Teddy Lupin and Ms. Violet Parkinson," Rowley said. He was holding two envelopes in his hands and was beaming at them.

"What are those?" Violet asked pointing at the envelopes.

Rowley snapped a finger and the envelopes disappeared. "Madame wanted to make sure you received them," he said and then glanced once tellingly at Teddy's schoolbag and then over at Violet's. "I wanted to find a good time though."

Teddy didn't know what to say to this, but Violet who had glanced towards the front of the room and then back to Rowley seemed to understand.

"Thanks Rowley," she said.

Teddy nodded and thanked the elf who beamed back and then vanished. He had barely straightened back up to start clearing his supplies when he noticed Stephen over to the side giving the two of them an odd look.

"How did we do?" Teddy asked him.

He shrugged. "'E' work."

Teddy smiled. "Well that's good then. You two salvaged it."

Stephen glared back at him for a moment before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. "It could have gone worse," he said and then left them.

Teddy's smile would probably have widened at Stephen's antics, had he not been sitting next to his cousin who had been prickly towards him since their argument in the lobby.

"Teddy," she said wearily. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did in the lobby yesterday."

She had never been forthcoming with apologies and Teddy was taken aback by how contrite she looked and sounded.

"It's ok," he said, having been more surprised than angered by her outburst.

"No it's not," she replied. "I was hysterical and childish and I realized today that it was exactly the type of thing another person in my family might do."

"Either you're talking about your baby brother or your mother..." Teddy said with a grin.

She smiled back. "Yeah, anyway I have a number of things I wanted to speak with you about, but it would seem we had to take care of the issue of me being a prat first."

"Apology accepted," Teddy repeated.

"Good," she said. "So first of all- Rowley is a smart little elf."

Besides singing the praises of the unusually conscientious and stealthy house elf, Violet had wanted to tell Teddy about her house's "indoor activities suggestions" and to find out what Gryffindor had come up with. He wasn't surprised that the Slytherin's had also suggested a School Ball. The girls in particular in their house were dressing much more formally each day. It was commonplace to walk down a hallway and hear the _click, click, click_ of a Slytherin in heels.

She did not bring up the fact that Stephen had not been re-invited to Madame's dinner party and he didn't either.

The last thing she brought up was the most interesting to him however. She mentioned when they were out of earshot of the classroom that Seavelle had visited their common room the other night to discuss the inter-house activities; her first time visiting there to Violet's recollection. She had enjoyed the Ball idea a great deal and said that she would volunteer in an advisory role if the Headmistress would accept her.

"Everyone was really excited about that," Violet said. She glanced up and down the hallway before looking back at him. "She mentioned Dr. Babbit and his asylum from America."

Teddy blinked. "She what?"

"It was fairly strange," Violet said. "She was leaving the room and she just randomly said, 'Maybe we can invite Dr. Babbit to the dance- wanted men are so hard to find'."

Teddy waited, believing there be more to her statement than this. When Violet didn't say anything he raised his hands in confusion. "And?" he asked.

"That's it."

"What do you mean, that's it. That could mean anything."

She rolled her eyes at this. "She's not stupid, she knows what a roomful of Slytherin's will do with this."

He raised his arms again, "You said it- not me."

She laughed, then dropped her voice. "Did Harry ever explain the reason he was kicked out of America?"

He shook his head.

"Well," she said thoughtfully. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."

When Teddy made it to the Interhouse common room a few nights later, Dewey was already there. He had a book out at the table he was sitting at, but he didn't seem to be paying it any attention.

"You waiting for someone?" Teddy asked. He waggled his eyebrows.

"Cut that out," he replied. "And no- I was actually waiting for you."

Teddy took the seat next to him and starting taking out his books. "Right..." he said.

"No really," Dewey maintained. "I was hoping you would come here by yourself. I kind of was invited to Madame's dinner party."

Teddy grinned. "You won't quit till every woman in this castle is under your spell..."

Dewey scowled at him, the patient Hufflepuff apparently nearing his limit. "I don't think she invited Kai."

Teddy stared blankly back at him. "How would you know?"

"Because I just had Potions with him and you know that if he was invited to something like that he would mention it at the first opportunity that he could."

That made sense to Teddy. He would assume that the elves had already distributed their invites, considering the dinner was quickly approaching. So if they hadn't already heard Kai boasting about the invite then he had probably missed out.

"You shouldn't assume that I was invited," Teddy said.

"What? Why not?"

"Stephen White wasn't re-invited?" Teddy tried hard not to look too pleased by this information.

He must have failed in this because Dewey frowned at him. "I'm thinking of just skiving it off anyway; find a good excuse and thank her for considering me."

Teddy groaned. "Noo- it's bad enough with the Slytherin's mooning over Madame. At least you and I could have fun there."

Dewey shrugged. "You don't have to go either, you know."

This was true enough, although Teddy knew that Violet would probably hold it against both of them for a very long time indeed if they blew this dinner off. Also it just seemed a bit... Un-Gryfindor to avoid a meal simply because it would likely be uncomfortable.

"It's not that bad," Teddy offered.

Dewey didn't say anything for a bit. The two pulled out their coursework and spent a few minutes working silently before his friend sighed. "I know it wouldn't be that bad. If my parents find out though that I was at one of Madame's dinners, I'll never hear the end of it..."

"They'll be that mad?" Teddy asked.

He gave Teddy a funny look and was about to answer, when his gaze swept to the entrance of the room where the Ravenclaw's Hannah, Eloise, and Mary were making their way over to the table.

"Just waiting for me huh?" Teddy said to Dewey.

Dewey colored slightly, but ignored Teddy as he cleared their books to make a space at the table for the three girls.

The girls seemed oddly cool and serious as they quickly said hello and then took their seats at the table. They immediately began pulling out parchments and books.

Dewey cleared his throat (still ignoring the grin that wouldn't leave Teddy's face at his jumpy friend). "Uhm, is everything alright?"

"Hmm?" Eloise said glancing back at him. "Of course it is- we just wanted to get our stuff together before we talk to you."

"Your stuff?" Teddy asked. He leaned over towards the largest parchment that the girls had pulled out in front of him and saw a long bullet list of directions."

"Didn't you speak with Kai?" Eloise asked. "He said you did when he spoke to us."

"About what?" Teddy asked.

The three girls seemed somewhat affronted by this. "For the thing Kai is making… He told us you two had mentioned our names," Mary said.

"He told us you two sang our praises- said you guys couldn't go any farther without our help," added Hannah.

Eloise, gave Dewey a particularly sharp look. "That you two were _dunderheads_ in the subject... Although this seems more reasonable now."

Teddy and Dewey looked at one another for a moment before plastering sheepish looks on their faces.

"No- no. We had talked to Kai about his thing," Dewey said quickly. "He mentioned that he was going to talk to you three."

Teddy nodded. "He just neglected to tell us that he was going to do it so soon. We had no idea he was that far along."

The girls continued to stare at the two boys with suspicion. Dewey thankfully changed the subject.

"So is that a list of things for us to get in order to finish the…" He paused to search for the word. "Is there a good way to refer to it here?"

"Actually that's something I was thinking about," said Eloise. "I don't think this is a good room to discuss this in, no matter what sort of names we might devise for it."

The two other girls nodded at this. They had a point, Teddy thought, as the inter-house common room remained one of the loudest and most crammed rooms in the castle each evening. Even now they were struggling to keep their voices just above a whisper but had to lean fairly close to one another in order to make out what each person was saying.

"So, the library?" Dewey asked.

She shook her head. "No, the place we have the most privacy is in our dorm."

It was times like this that Teddy was glad that he was a metamorph as he was able to detect and reverse the blush that covered his face. Dewey, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky as the back of his neck, his ears, and his cheeks immediately turned a bright red.

"Ravenclaw tower?" he asked.

Hannah and Mary glanced at one another and giggled a bit, but Eloise cut them off. "I don't think we can help you guys with this if we can't speak freely. The difficult thing will be getting you guys in."

Teddy rolled his eyes. "How hard can it be to get into your tower? Our mate lives there."

Mary smiled. "Ravenclaw's defense is pretty simple. You have to prove you are able to cut it in there. If you can't, then you can't get in."

Dewey glanced down at his wand and then back at the girls. "So, we should bone up on our charms and transfig spells then?"

This time all three girls giggled at them.

So the plan was to meet the Ravenclaw's the next evening in their dorm. Unlike the oath ceremony in the fainting room, Teddy and Dewey didn't have the luxury of having a house elf kitchen to hide in and avoid detection. While it wasn't forbidden for students of other houses to speak to people at their entrance portals (students frequently did just this when they needed to drop off books or notes to a friend in another house) their job was that much more difficult because they needed to make it through the common room and to the girls dorm without getting noticed.

"You're a walking polyjuice potion," Mary had said to Teddy when he voiced these realistic concerns.

"And me?" Dewey said.

Mary looking at her two friends who had blank looks on their faces, and shrugged.

"I'm sure you two will do just fine," she said.

Teddy and Dewey discussed their options on their way back to their own common rooms. Everything hinged on them being smart enough to get in- and then Kai being smart enough to move them all to the girl's room.

"He's a Ravenclaw..." Dewey said. "He should be able to figure out a practical and sensible plan."

Teddy and Dewey shared a laugh before parting ways.

Back in Gryffindor Teddy groaned when he saw an older Ravenclaw boy simply walk through their portal door along with Sarah, the prefect. The two gave him a strange look.

"Sorry," he said, "I just realized how easy it is for other people to get into our house."

"You paranoid Teddy?" Kaitlin called from a nearby table where she was playing a game of wizard chess.

Teddy ignored her and went over to another table to finish the letters that he had been thinking about for the last few days.

_Dear Harry,_

_ Hopefully receiving two letters in two weeks is a good amount for a godson. You came at a fairly bad time as this was the only time this semester I've had a talk with any professor outside of class. You know what I mean._

_ I have a few family questions for you when you get the chance. Nothing serious- I'm just curious as to our family history as some of my friends and teachers have been inquiring about what our parents do for a living._

_ Speaking of that- could you mention to Gran that I would like to invite Dewey, Kai, and Violet over for a day on break? I just wrote her the other day and forgot to mention and you know how she likes to have enough warning before springing things on her. I don't know if Violet will be able to come but she did last year so who knows?_

_ My classes are going well. My professors are interesting this year and have interesting things to say about one another as well. I can give you and the rest of the family a longer run down of everything happening here over the holiday. Unless I see you first but I suppose that wouldn't be something I should look forward to._

_ I am looking forward to the holidays so I can see everyone. Tell Victorie to stop pestering everyone about school, that she will be here in a few months. Hope everyone's well,_

He worried a little about the letter as his Godparent had been pretty clear that many people were reading their letters and that any hints he might have about Prospecting or Dr. Babbit could be figured out by other people. He read through it again, decided it was probably fine, and then signed it.

The second letter, which would seem simpler considering he didn't need to worry about disguising his language, was a bit more difficult to formulate.

_Chloe,_

_ I was happy to read through your last letter- it sounds like you are really enjoying your new school. Thank you for your concern but honestly we haven't had any dangerous things happen inside the castle. Everyone's going a bit mad really as we aren't allowed outside, or in certain parts of the castle, and many people don't see why as nothing has happened. _

_ I'm not sure exactly how to say this but Julie and April have asked me a few times if I still talk with you. They asked if we were dating. I know that we aren't- but it's none of their business really. Anyway I figured you would probably want to know that people still remember you and are asking about you._

_ It's a bit different this year. I'm not sure the best way to describe it but there are some new teachers and they seem to have an effect on the students. A lot of kids are much more into their classes (Violet and Stephen for example) and a lot of students are dressing much more carefully- getting ready for a Ball they are planning I think. It feels like a different place than last year. It's not bad but it's not the same. _

_ Anyway I'm sure some of the Slytherin girls could really go for the muggle face charms that you brought last year. I could make a quick galleon selling it to some of them- although thinking about it that sounds more like something Kai would do. We are going on holiday in a few weeks- I know my family was planning on stopping in Diagon Alley for a day- any chance you might be in London then? _

_ I hope that you keep enjoying your school- let me know about your holiday plans. Oh and you don't need to put so many muggle stamps on your letters. The owls don't care._

_ Take care._

_ Teddy_

He read through the letter twice- resisting the urge to cross out a few lines that he had written and rewritten the last time he had tried writing to her. For some reason everything either came out like he was complaining about Hogwarts or like she was a shallow and silly girl that needed to hear about dances.

He had to get back to her though. He had taken far longer than her to respond to the last letter and, like with his Gran, she needed to get the letter before the Holiday if she was going to adjust her plans. So it was with a sigh that he rolled up the second letter and placed it next to the first. He trudged out one more time that evening to the owlry where he would take a breath, tie the letters up, and then send them on their way.


	11. Chapter 11 Worst Kept Secrets

**Chapter 11: Worst Kept Secrets**

The following night after dinner, Teddy hurried back to the common room to get his stuff. Kai had suggested (after hearing some choice words from both Teddy and Dewey about his going to the girls without giving them a heads up) that the best time to sneak them into the girls dorm would be immediately after dinner. Teddy had planned to just go straight to the Ravenclaw tower from the great hall but, unlike Dewey who had thought ahead, he had forgotten his backpack. He was surprised therefore to find Kaitlin in the hallway, walking hand in hand with Leonard. The two seemed to be whispering to one another despite the fact that no one else was in the hallway at this time. Upon seeing the look on Teddy's face as he raced past them Leonard gave him a sheepish grin and Kaitlin rolled her eyes at him.

"How was dinner?" he heard her voice from well behind him followed by giggling.

In no time at all he had grabbed his backpack and was at the staircase leading to the tower where Dewey was already waiting for him.

"Everything alright?" Dewey asked.

Teddy nodded, taking a second to catch his breath as the two climbed the spiral staircase.

"Really?" he asked again.

"Yeah... why do you ask?"

Dewey looked at him curiously. "You seem like you just walked away from some disturbing thing."

"You can say that."

The two stared at the plain brown door facing them. There was no door handle, no key hole, nothing of notice except a bronze eagle where a door knocker would normally be.

"I don't suppose we can just knock," Teddy said.

The bronze eagle moved his head to gaze levelly at Teddy. "You don't suppose correctly," it said.

"Er... excuse us," Dewey said approaching the bird. "We heard we need to pass some sort of test in order to get into the common room." He glanced at Teddy and then back at the bird. "We're here to see our friend Kai."

The bird flapped it's wing once as if in thought and then nodded. "Very well- what comes out only at night, hiding during the day, growing and dying within a month?"

Dewey gave Teddy a look that very much said _I can't think when someone demands I answer a riddle on the spot_.

"Well it can't be the moon," Teddy said to the eagle. "Because that would be way to obvious of an answer."

The eagle narrowed his eyes at Teddy and raised it's wings a bit.

"Uhm, unless that's the answer and I'm just not used to Ravenclaw riddles," Teddy said trying not to smirk at the eagle who was now flapping it's wings menacingly.

"I was giving you a question designed for guests- generally I'm not under the assumption that visitors are out to prove how clever they are with house guardians."

Teddy shrugged, not knowing exactly how to answer without seeming more impertinent.

"Can we please go in then?" Dewey asked the bird.

The eagle shook it's head. "If the Gryffindor boy is so ready to prove his wits he can answer a Ravenclaw level riddle."

"Oh come on," Teddy said. "It was difficult honestly- I just heard a similar riddle before."

The eagle continued to beat it's wings. "I am the Ravenclaw guard you know- you should at least try and come up with some sort of believable excuse."

"Because you're the first person to use a riddle about the moon?" Teddy said before he could stop himself.

"Shut up Teddy," Dewey whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"I come up with a new riddle every time someone wants to enter this room. That's thousands of challenges each year." The eagle started to say but whatever else he was going to add was lost as the door swung open. Kai was leaning against the door knob, laughing so hard that Teddy thought the glasses on his face would fall off.

"That's... wow," he said.

Teddy and Dewey stalked past him without another word.

Besides the strange circular shape of the room, the only difference Teddy noticed between his and their common rooms was the general tidiness of the various tables and couches. No house ties or headbands were lying unclaimed, no school books propped open on any of the tables. It seemed as if they were expecting company.

"This place seems empty," Dewey said hopefully to Kai who was still chuckling.

He nodded. "We have a few minutes to figure out our plan."

"Is it like Gryffindor where the staircase boots a guy out if they try to go up to the girls dorm?" Teddy asked.

Kai shrugged. "Probably, but that's not that big of a deal. The problem would be if an alarm goes off somewhere and Flitwick would get called."

"Cho would kill you," Dewey said.

Kai did not look pleased by that statement, but he did not argue the point. Instead he marched over to the window at the end of the room and pulled it open. Harsh mid-November winds immediately pushed into the room and the three boys found themselves clutching their robes to their chests.

"I didn't know we were allowed to open the windows with the lock down and all," Dewey said.

"Oh," Kai said. "Hmm. That's a good point." He glanced back at the two of them apologetically, now seeming like whatever plan he previously had might not be such a good idea.

"Well, if you weren't supposed to, you already did," Teddy said. "So let's get on with it before someone comes in."

Kai, still looking very concerned, nodded. "One second," he said as he raced off to the staircase on their left; presumably to the boy's dorms. They heard him a few moments later making a great deal of racket coming down the steps. "Hey, someone want to help?" he called. Teddy recognized the bicycle that Kai had ridden the previous spring to a nearby muggle hospital.

"Really Kai? That's the plan?" Teddy asked as he and Dewey hurried over to help him carry the bicycle down the steps.

"I meant to ligthen this but the charm wasn't working," he hastily explained as he positioned the bicycle next to the window.

"How are we expected to ride this through there?" Dewey asked. The open window started at their waist height and went to their necks- it would be difficult enough to shoot through the opening on a broomstick, much less on a bicycle.

Kai gulped. Then, with a surprising amount of strength for such a tiny boy, lifted the bicycle by the handebar and seat and manuevered it sideways through the open window. Teddy expected him to struggle to hold the bike as it dangled over the earth. To his amazement Kai let go of the bike and it just rested where it was . Just what exactly it was resting on though, Teddy couldn't make out from his vantage point next to Kai. It seemed to be leaning against the building, supported by nothing but air.

Noticing Teddy and Dewey's shocked looks, Kai grinned. "They don't want student's to know about it but the building has security ledges around it's various portals. Probably just in case professors need to get something on the roof."

"How far out does it go?" Teddy asked trying very hard to keep the fear out of his voice as he stared nine stories down to the Hogwart's grounds."

Kai didn't answer. Instead he gingerly slipped through the opening, his fingers gripped tightly to the window sill. He swung around with his lower body completely out of the window.

"Ok here's the plan," Kai said very quickly. "You guys are going to hold me while I get on the bike. Don't let go until I say so."

"This is insane," Dewey said.

"Yeah it is," Teddy agreed. "And you could have told us this before."

Kai reached an arm out which Teddy and Dewey quickly took firm grips of as they braced their bodies on either side of the window.

"Yeah well, you probably wouldn't have gone along with it," Kai said grinning. He was now standing right next to the bike in the open air. He grabbed a handlebar with his free hand and then akwardly climbed onto the bike, where he placed a foot on either pedal.

"Now what?" Dewey asked.

Kai did not look back at them. "Even if I'm falling, as long as I'm pedaling, this bike will start to fly."

"What!" Teddy exclaimed.

"But hopefully, the invisible ledge outside this window goes along this whole roof and I can just pedal across it before I lift off."

"That's insane…" Dewey started to say, but Kai had wrenched his other arm free of their grips and grabbed the other handlebar as he pedaled away. He was wrong about the ledge extending past the window as the back tire stopped spinning and fell almost right away. This didn't matter though, as he furiously pumped the front wheel had lifted almost immediately and soon he was flying in small circles outside the window.

"You maniac!" Teddy yelled after he and Dewey loudly cheered their friend. "You looney idiot!"

Kai flew back over to the window and using his hand to grab the ledge, parked the bike in it's original spot.

"You guys ready to try this?"

So in pairs of two (Kai the rider, the others standing on the back pegs and holding onto Kai's shoulders) they flew out the window and up a short distance to the spire that housed the girls dorm. Teddy scared the daylight out of the Ravenclaw ladies when he knocked on their window.

"We were gonna blast you," Mary said back to Teddy as she and the other girls were still clutching their chests in fright.

"I'm glad you didn't" Teddy replied and he climbed through the window and into the safety of their dorm.

Within a minute Kai was back with Dewey. The girls helpfully shrunk the bike down to a pocketable size and helped the boys through the window.

"Quite the entrance," Eloise said to Dewey.

Dewey who was smoothing out his windblown hair and catching his own breath nodded. "Next time I do anything that's a Kai plan, I'm going to demand to see the details in writing."

* * *

"Ok here the deal," Hannah said to them. "Protean charms are insanely difficult to work with. It's NEWT stuff. You find three seventh years here and they probably won't know how to do this sort of thing."

They were all seated on the floor between the four, four-poster beds in the room, all staring intently at the blue map that Kai had put together.

"What?" Teddy said.

Hannah glanced at the other girls who were busy looking through their notes. "I mean the key point to a map like this is to figure out where every single entity within the castle is. That kind of organic, seat of the pants magic is really difficult to plot out."

Kai groaned. "Have you three looked at the orb at all?"

Teddy immediately turned to the crystal ball sitting quite unimpressively on top of a school robe and sweatshirt in the corner of the room. He hadn't given the ball a second's notice from when he first spotted it, but it did fit the proportions of the wrapped up package that Caicus confiscated and Violet retrieved.

"Scrying is great," Eloise said to Kai. "But we aren't smart enough to figure out how to make it work for the entire school."

Mary nodded. "The orb is useless. If we knew the enchaments to figure out how to project on everyone in the castle then we would just do it. It's like having a cupboard full of supplies when what you really need is a potions master."

"So that's your advice?" Kai shot back.

"No," Mary replied. "This map is all about where people are within the castle right? It discoveres and plots out locations based on where people go. It lets you know where you are compared to other people. Well we're not smart enough to charm the castle to let us know where people are, but we are smart enough to charm a map to let us know where our magic is."

Eloise, who was seated midway between the two girls and the three boys, shifted over a few feet till she was sitting right next to Dewey. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial which seemed to contain a mixure of dark red flakes. She shook the container a few times into her open palm and then, to the boy's surprise, blew the dust right into Dewey's face.

"What was that for?" he said between coughs.

Eloise pointed down at the blue parchment. It had changed from the last time Teddy had looked at it. Before the white chalk marks had edged out the Room of Requirements, now it semed to offer a cross section of the entire castle. He searched the drawing, looking towards the top of the page to find the Ravenclaw tower. He didn't have to look too hard though before he found a blinking red dot.

"Nomenus Revelus," she uttered as she tapped the map.

To Teddy's amazement the words "Dewey Diggory" appeared below the red dot.

"Merlin's balls! That's incredible!" Kai said.

"Kai," Dewey protested, but his dissaproval of his friends language fell away at the look of utter glee that had spread across his face. Kai had one of his hands in the air and it took Dewey a moment to realize he wanted one of those muggle "high fives" things. He tentively did it to which Kai enthiastically returned his own high five to Dewey.

The girls were laughing and soon everyone was high fiving. The girls gave them all hugs and Teddy noticed Eloise had slipped a kiss onto Dewey's cheek when she thought no one was looking.

When they had settled down, they all once again took a seat around the map.

"OK," Kai said. "So in order to populate this map, we need to lace the entire school with your charm."

Hannah made a face at this. "Lace sounds..."

She didn't finish the thought but Teddy knew exactly what she was getting at. It reminded him of the unpleasant feeling he had during his first Potion's class when they were working with sleeping potions. This was different though- this was for their and potentially everyone's safety.

"Tag," he added quickly. "We need to tag everyone in the castle with the charm."

No one said anything at this but the looks on all their faces while they stared at him suggested that they were all thinking along the same lines.

"It's a harmless charm right?" he asked.

The girls all quickly nodded. "Absolutely," Mary said. "Just a few flakes on the person and they should be identified on the map."

"And how long does it last?" Dewey asked.

"It's a blood identifying charm," Mary said. "As long as that blood exists, it should show up."

Kai frowned. "Wait, that doesn't help us with ghosts or guardings".

"We know," Mary said. "That's just not possible without knowledge of protean self-identifiying charms."

He bit his lip, obviously unhappy with this, but he didn't say anything further about it.

"So all we need to do is tag the entire school?" Dewey said.

"You sound pretty casual about that," Eloise said.

Dewey shrugged. "If we can break out of this castle, then I don't see why we can't do this."

Kai grinned. "And you doubted my plans."

* * *

When Teddy returned to his common room later that evening, everyone was gathered around the bulletin board.

"More security measures?" he asked Colin.

"New clubs," Colin replied rather glumly. Evidently the new Quidditch season information was not up on the board. Colin looked sadly over at the fireplace area where Sophia and a number of her friends were talking excitedly about something.

"You know you can just talk to her right?" Teddy said to him.

"Mhmm," Colin replied without turning his head.

"I mean even if you did make the team, you would need to do that anyway" Teddy said.

"What?" he asked apparently just hearing Teddy for the first time.

"Nevermind," Teddy said.

He made his way through the crowd to check out the club notices.

**THE HOGWARTS ****WARD**** SOCIETY**

"Hey Suchin, looks like they picked up your club!" Teddy said to the first year who was standing near.

Suchin nodded but did not say anything- his weariness reminded Teddy very much of Colin. Were the older witches bringing down everyone tonight? He read on.

**For those interested in learning absolutely everything an ex-auror is legally allowed to discuss about ****Wards****- The theory behind them, basic defenses, basic breaking, rubicube and spell revealers- this is the club for you. Third Years and Up- Students in Good Standing only. Please meet Professor Rai during his office hours.**

"Oh," Teddy replied. He gave him a cheery smile. "Well at least you have something to look forward to in a couple of years.

The next club also had an age requirement, but if Teddy wished to join (which he absolutely did not) he would be allowed to.

_The Event Committee_

_ Due to the school wide interst for a formal ball this year, we are pleased to announce a student r__u__n planning board. Interested second years and up (in good standing) should report to Slytherin Prefect Ursala Lawin as soon as possible. A representative portion of each house (and year depending on application pool) will be selected. Those desiring a seat should prepare a number of ideas for running an original and elegant event. _

The last notice read simply,

**Muggle Science Club**

** Survey of Core Muggle Sciences: Chemistry, Biology and Physics. Introduction to Muggle Specialties: Biological Engineer, Geneticist, and others. Everyone welcome.**

Suchin, who was also reading that club's description said out of the side of his mouth, "I think I will join that one."

* * *

On the night of Seavelle's dinner party, Teddy didn't bother meeting with Violet beforehand. She hadn't mentioned anything, but he suspected she would be trying to sneak out of her common room without any of her fellow Slytherins, especially Steven, noticing her absence. Word had spread since the previous dinner, and if anyone in the castle would be offended for not being invited, it was the members of that house.

Clippy had been invited once again and this time he had made the trip up to Teddy's dorm to help him pick the correct formal wear out of his roommates offerings (none of them cared one way or the other about Seavelle's party and were similarly unbothered by Teddy rummaging through their fancier clothes).

Clippy was an easy customer, satified with the scarlet robe and matching tie that Teddy picked out. He told Teddy to not worry about his shoes as the robes would block then from view most of the time anyway.

So that evening, Teddy and Clippy arrived looking presentable and right on time. Rowley led them through the small entrance room, through the hallway, to the dining room. Despite their timeliness, a number of people were already seated. For a moment Teddy wondered if they were last again, as a number of people were already chewing on food and deep in conversation. He realized though, that there were empty seats at the table, but there were also more people already there than last time. Besides Violet and Guy who were sitting next to one another near the Headmistress' end of the table, Teddy recognized the Slytherin prefect Ursula, sitting between Professor Rai and another woman that he did not know. Dewey was seated on the other side of the mysterious woman, next to Seavelle who was arguing with Rolf Pruit about something.

Teddy and Clippy slipped into empty seats and quietly worked at the salads in front of them. Before long though Pruit seemed to spot the two of them.

"Mr. Clippingham," he said excitedly before nodding at Teddy. "Mr. Lupin."

Teddy nodded back.

"I must thank you, young man, for mentioning me to your aunt. We had a lovely chat the other week."

Clippy smiled back. "That's good to hear."

"Who is your aunt?" the unidentified woman at the table asked. She was wearing emerald rhinestone glasses that matched the dress that she was wearing.

Before he could reply, Seavelle was reaching across Dewey and gripping the woman's forearm as she answered for him. "This is Byron Clippingham. Eudora's nephew."

"Eudora Clippingham?" the woman said. "Now that was a spark plug."

Clippy shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

Before the woman could say anything else though the diminutive Professor Curr and another man Teddy didn't recognize were led to the last two empty seats at the table.

"Excellent," Seavelle said. "We're all here." She introduced the professors and students to the non-Hogwarts guests. Unlike the last dinner, she did not mention any of the student's houses or years. The two new adults appeared to have never met any of the faculty before. The woman's name was Rowena Bixby. Seavelle did not name her job but instead stated that the two had studied Potions together in France.

She introduced the man sitting next to Teddy, as Lewis Hobfly, but referred to him as Buzz throughout the night. She mentioned that he was a writer for various publications including the Daily Prophet. Buzz kept his lips tightly together as he nodded to everyone at the table. When he noticed the notebook Guy Thomas already had opened and started taking notes in, he smiled.

"Do you mind if I take notes?" he asked Seavelle.

She playfully rolled her eyes. "We're off the record tonight Buzz."

With everyone seated, the house elves immediately made their way over with platters of food. Lobsters (which the adults helpfully charmed to crack themselves open) and giant potatoes full of condiments that they normally would not get in the great hall.

"This is delicious Muriel," the headmistress said.

Teddy agreed. He would have to learn the lobster charm for the next time the Potters hosted everyone for a seafood night. Of course he wouldn't be able to use his wand outside of the castle, but they sometimes didn't care. He was finishing his food, growing quite full and content from the dinner, when he noticed that the table and larger group of people did not appear to be any more cramped then it had the last time they were here. He had distinctly remembered how the small oval room had seemed perfectly sized for their party the previous evening. Everyone was close enough that a whisper might be picked up, yet with enough space that he was comfortable.

"Does this room change sizes?" he asked Seavelle.

She smilled. "Many people don't notice that. Yes this room was specially constructed to meet the demands of the group within."

"Like the Room of Requirement," Teddy replied without thinking. He quickly glanced at the Headmistress.

"Very much like that room," the Headmistress replied. "I daresay that is now one of our worst kept secrets."

Teddy and the other students laughed with various degrees of nervousness at this.

"So what I want to know" Rowena said with a mischievous smile. "What is the deal with the mighty Orange Wards?"

"Rowena," Seavelle said testily.

"Not how they're broken or anything like that," Rowena said and she shook her hands out in front of her as if the notion of ward breaking was something trivial. "No, I mean why the Goblins haven't come up with anything. I mean from what I hear, the defenses didn't even need to be adjusted after the last attack. They-"

"Now is not a good time," Seavelle said cutting her off. "This dinner is not about discussing the castle's security."

The headmistress nodded. "Yes that's right- and even if it was such a venue, I'm afraid no one at the table would have much to offer on the subject as the ward team kept the details of their design to only a handful of people within the ministry."

"You mean you don't know how they work either?" Buzz asked her.

Everyone turned to look at Lleweyln who reddened slightly but kept her voice firm. "I worked very closey with the head of the Auror Department. He has been back and forth to the school grounds several times and provides frequent updates on the school's security."

Harry had been to Hogwarts several times this year? Both Violet and Dewey were looking at Teddy with surprise on their faces. He shook his head at both of them.

"The more interesting question," Rowena said seemingly unaffected by Seavelle's previous reprimand. "Is whether the ministry wards will have the same effect on the Dragon Bandits."

Teddy would have guessed that Seavelle or the Headmistress would once again tell her that this wasn't appropriate dinner conversation. He was shocked when he noticed the two of them perk up at this- the Headmistress leaning in towards Rowena, and Seavelle putting her chin in her two hands as her whole body leaned into the table.

"I mean, I know they are supposed to be excellent for Goblin's but as for wizards..." Rowena said slowly. She took a long sip of her wine and then leaned back into her chair saying no more.

"Talk about worst kept secrets," Pruitt said. "If Hogsmede hears about this they're going to start locking down their shops again."

"Hogsmede? Think about London," Seavelle said. "What happens when a third story apartment on Diagon Alley is blown down into the street?"

Teddy noticed that Buzz had quietly removed his own little notebook under the table and unfolded it so it rested on his lap. A quill danced back and forth across it seemingly independent of the words spoken at the table.

"The whole thing is preposterous," Rai said. While not exactly glaring at anyone specific, the conversation had clearly rubbed him the wrong way. "No one has seen one of these so called bandits. The Auror's didn't find anything suggesting Dragon Fire or even Wizard spells. It's just Goblin related hysteria."

To Teddy's surprise Ursula spoke up. "The Auror's couldn't indentify the spells used in the Black Gorge attack though. They can't rule anything out at this point."

Rai gave the prefect a very suspicious look, but did not say anything. Seavelle on the other hand seemed delighted by Ursula's statement.

"I'm sure everyone at the table, myself included, wonders how you know the details of that attack."

Ursula smiled sweetly back at her. "I do my best to stay informed."

Rowena pointed at her. "Now now, don't hold on us. How have you stayed so well informed?"

Ursula shrugged. "The Auror reports are included in the ministry's public records after a certain amount of time. At least the declassified information is."

Seavelle looked like she did not entirely believe this, but changed the subject. "Teddy did you get a chance to find out anymore about your families prospecting history?"

Teddy choked slightly on the wine he was drinking. "Er, yes," he said. "I spoke to Professor Curr about it briefly."

Curr, who had throughout the evening kept silent, also seemed caught quite off guard. "Yes, he did. He and Mr. Chang had several questions about prospecting work. Why I told him that he should speak with Madame about this. It looks like you hadn't yet though, have you?"

"Why did you suggest he speak to me about it?" Seavelle asked.

"Well because of your work on mineral transfigurations," Curr replied. "I read your paper years ago. Very interesting magic being done in those mines."

"I hadn't encountered anyone who had read that before," Seavelle said with another one of her broad smiles. "It's somewhat embarrasing to hear- I was a much more impulsive academic back then."

"Nonsense," Curr said with a wave of the hand. "You ask a lot of questions most wizards and witches in the transfiguration field just float over. We need a good shake up of our assumptions from time to time."

"Which assumptions did your paper address?" Guy asked, then added "Madame" hastily.

She sat back in her chair and chewed thoughtfully on her lip for a moment. "At the time I was concerned with the temporal aspects of transfiguration. There was a dearth of work done on the eroding effects of transfiguration magic, the rate at which the magical will fades and when the rearranged object reverts."

Curr, who for the first time all evening actually seemed interested in the conversation interrupted her. "Madame investigated installations that suggest a permanent transfiguration- which is almost unheard of in the magical world."

"Almost?" Teddy asked. He had a sneaking suspicion that Seavelle's prodding him about his families prospecting history was directly related to this.

"Well the Philosopher's Stone is a rather famous example of a permanent transfigured object." Curr said.

Not the prospecting history, but Harry's history with that stone seemed to be Teddy's reason for being at the table that evening. He had been momentarily annoyed when Violet had suggested to Teddy that he was no longer the most interesting person within the castle. Not because he felt he was all that interesting (or any more interesting than a metamorphmagus directly tied to last year's goblin rebellion might be) but because it suggested that somehow boring this year. Now, hearing once again about his adopted families history with the Philosopher's Stone, he felt he was indeed interesting, but he was fairly sure he didn't like the reasons why.


	12. Chapter 12 Infectious Magic

**Chapter 12: Infectious Magic**

Teddy had assumed, based on his own distaste for starchy, cumbersome formal wear, that nobody would want to follow along in the footsteps of the small and determined group of Slytherin fifth and six year girls who wore ever more decorative attire each day. He was wrong.

Girls mainly, but also a number of guys from the various houses, had seemingly overnight decided that they too wanted to wear their fanciest clothes to the great hall. He felt that morning at breakfast like he had not left Seavelle's table from the night before and instead her little room had somehow ballooned into the great hall.

Even Violet, who had seemed to make a point in the previous year to stay out of the vain, girly, activity within her own dorm room , was looking coiffed and smart this morning. She had a shawl draped around her own robes that from time to time she flapped out of the way as she spoke with her fellow second year girls.

"Did your Godfather ever tell you about the Philosopher's Stone, Teddy?"

"What?" Teddy said as he whipped around to find Clippy with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Some people were asking me about it," Clippy said.

"What?- Who?" Teddy asked.

Clippy shrugged. "Some Slytherins."

"We haven't gone to class yet!" Teddy said. He hadn't expected the conversation from the previous evening to remain a great secret- what with the increased people at the dinner and the heightened interest in the event, but the day hadn't even started yet.

"No he hasn't told me anything about it," Teddy replied. "I think it was from his first year anyway. A lot more interesting things happened to him after that episode."

Clippy nodded. He pulled a schoolbook out of his bag and began to read as he ate his breakfast. Which was odd considering most meals he and Kaitlin would talk throughout. He must have noticed Teddy looking at the empty space next to him though. "She's eating with the Hufflepuff's."

"We can do that?" Teddy asked.

Clippy shrugged again.

No one questioned Teddy during breakfast but he figured that wouldn't last long as he had Potions with the Slytherin's that morning. He was right, no sooner did he sit down in the lab then Nagaeena and Decima were standing next to him with wide smiles on their face.

"Any chance you want to sit with us today?" Nagaeena asked.

Teddy rolled his eyes. They were still waiting on an answer though, so he shook his head.

"You sure?" She asked him again.

Teddy glanced over the table where poor Mullicent, the burly girl who made up their trio, was standing with her bag, clearly waiting to see if she was going to be swapped out for the class.

"I already have a seat here," Teddy said, indicating his spot by Stephen and Violet who were doing a nice job of pretending that they were not listening to the conversation. "If you want to ask me about anything then you might as well."

Nagaeena and Decima shared a quick side-eye look at this but continued to smile sweetly at him.

"Well of course we have things we want to ask you," Nagaeena replied. "But I doubt you want to talk about your Godfather here anyways."

Teddy stared at her but she did not look away.

"Actually though, I was wondering if you were considering joining the Ball Committee," she said.

"What?" Teddy replied. He was not expecting that one bit.

"Of course you don't need to join in order to make the court," Decima said. She and Nagaeena both giggled at this to Teddy's annoyance. He was going to tell her that he could give a Pygmie Puff about court or the dance when the two girls switched their gaze to Violet.

"You are joining the committee, aren't you?" Decima asked her.

Violet shrugged.

"Violet," Nagaeena said with a sigh. "Don't make us drag you there."

"You wouldn't need to drag me," Violet said. "If I decide to go, then I will walk alongside you like a normal witch."

Nagaeena and Decima shared another look but didn't say anything. Fernius' chalk had stopped writing out the day's instruction on the board, the usual signal for everyone to take their places, and the girls made a quick retreat back to their table.

They had gone a good deal into the day's work when Teddy asked Violet out of the side of his mouth, "Are you really going to join the Ball Committee."

Violet shrugged again. This time, Teddy suspected, was less as a posture of indifference and more so of not really knowing what she wanted to do. Or maybe his cousin just didn't want to talk today as since they entered the room she and Stephen had not spoken one word to each other.

Teddy took the cue and did not pursue the subject. He was packing up his stuff at the end of class when Stephen, to his surprise, tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes?" Teddy asked.

"Are you planning on going to the library anytime soon?" Stephen said. He had positioned himself between Violet and Teddy so that his back was to her.

"Uhm... I hadn't planned on it," Teddy replied.

"I was hoping to do some Potions studying," Stephen said. He pulled out their text book and pointed to it unnecessarily. "Drill on antidotes and complimentary ingredients for future potion work."

Teddy shrugged. "I guess we could work on that. Violet?" he asked her.

She was closing her bag and leaving. "Can't this week," she replied over her shoulder, adding, "Ball Committee."

Teddy and Stephen watched her hurry over to Nagaeena, Decima, and Mullicent to walk with them.

"Does that ball committee meet every night?" Teddy asked Stephen.

He shrugged. "Library tonight?"

Teddy nodded. "I'll tell Kai and Dewey- they could use the study too."

* * *

Even though Stephen would definitely not make a list of his top five people to study with (or his top ten for that reason), he really could stand to brush up on his Potions knowledge. He knew that he was the weak link of their table; it would be nice to hold his own during the work.

What he hadn't told Stephen, was that he already planned on meeting with his other two friends at the library that evening. When the Slytherin boy had suggested a time a half hour later than he was already going to be there he had simply agreed. The last thing he needed was someone like Stephen listening in to their conversation.

When Teddy got to the library that evening his friends were already there. It was the first night of the various clubs and, coupled with the popularity of the inter-house common room, the library had noticeable thinned out.

"We gotta hurry this up," Kai said in lieu of a hello.

"And why is that?" Teddy asked.

"I'm meeting some people at the Muggle Science Club."

Dewey rolled his eyes at that. "Is this the same way you went to the Charms Club?"

Kai laughed, but shook his head. "The 4th years talk about Muggle Studies the most- and they're the best students."

"What?" Teddy asked.

"What, what?" Kai said back.

"The fourth years being the smartest," Dewey said back to him.

Kai shook his head again. "I didn't say they're smarter, just better students... Everyone fifth year and up only either cares about the standardized tests or their future careers, everyone third and under doesn't know enough to do anything proper. The fourth year is the best year."

"You sure know a lot for a second year," Teddy told him.

"Not as much as a fourth year," Kai said with the sort of smirk that made Teddy wonder how he wasn't hexed much more often.

"Anyway- if Muggle Science Club is anywhere near as worthwhile as the Muggle Studies Class then we should all be going there."

"Pass," Dewey said in a more dismissive tone than he normally would use with Kai.

"I would be interested," Teddy admitted. "But let's get through this first."

The boys had all agreed after their meeting with the Ravenclaws that they would think of a few plans to tag the entire school with the blood identifying charm. Dewey hadn't seemed to put much thought into his idea as it was basically variations of the same thing- lace the pumpkin juice, lace the eggs, lace the oatmeal, lace the mashed potatoes."

"Stop!" Kai said. "We get it- your ideas Teddy?"

Teddy glanced for a moment at Dewey, who, of course, looked a bit hurt by their not even considering his idea. Teddy cleared his throat and said, "Well... I also had thought about putting it in food- but I kind of figured that the Professors would be on to that after last year."

"Duh," Kai said. "I'm sure they were on to it last year as well, they just wouldn't have realized that a band of house elves might turn on-"

"Anyway," Teddy interrupted loudly before bringing his voice back down. "I think our best bet is give me the doses, I pose as someone, maybe a prefect or older student and then..."

This was as far as he had gotten and it only took a moment of him looking back and forth between the other two before they picked up on it too.

"Great Teddy- let's do that," Kai said and this time Dewey smirked back at him. Kai didn't bother to see if he was going to get a response, instead he pulled a large roll of parchment out of his bag which he unrolled on the table as if it were a transfiguration essay and not their very confiscatable map.

"What are you doing?' Teddy said.

"It's ok," He said quietly, as he scanned the surface of the map. "I put an enchantment on this paper so that it looks like a Charm's Practical Diagram."

"Really?" Teddy said as he jumped up from his seat to look over Kai's shoulder. The drawings on the map did indeed look like their Charm's Practicals. Panel after panel of a bored wizard swishing his wands in the extremely slow and exaggerated method of that particular step.

"Can you add us on?" Dewey asked.

Kai cast a revealer spell on the map and then on Teddy. "Did that work?" he asked.

"No," Teddy said.

Kai tried it again. "How about now?"

"You sure that's the right spell?" Teddy asked.

Kai was about to try it a third time when he noticed Teddy and Dewey grinning at him.

"You know for guys who come up with spiking food and randomly changing ones identify as their best plans, you actually can be clever sometimes."

"What's the plan, Kai?" Dewey said after having the revealer spell put on him.

"My sister's finacee doesn't respond well to wizarding remedies," Kai said. "Cho insists on giving him pep me up and restorative draughts when he gets a cold, but besides making steam shoot out of his ears, and Merlin is that funny, they don't do much."

Teddy didn't know where Kai was going with this and considered speeding him up as Stephen would show up any minute, but he didn't say anything.

"When Muggles get sick, they sneeze and cough on one another and that makes the other Muggles sick."

"Gross," said Teddy. Dewey nodded in agreement.

"I'm sure Dr. Babbit knows a lot more about what they are sneezing at the other person that causes them to get sick, but that's not the point. We have to think less about tagging everyone ourselves, and more about letting this thing spread itself."

"And how do we do that?" Dewey asked.

"We start by being a lot friendlier with the opposite sex," Kai said. He waggled his eyebrows at them, but probably didn't need to, as the looks on their faces was more than any reaction he was probably hoping for.

* * *

_Dear Teddy,_

_ Thank so much for continuing to write to me. I wish you wouldn't have told me about the ball though, or about new fashion trends- I would rather think of Hogwarts as a boring old school with a strict dress code._

_ I don't know how much the owl's can carry- and I know you mentioned packages being searched and suspicious items confiscated- but I enclosed some of my old eye shadow, lipstick, and eyeliners. Believe me, I have more and could always use an excuse to make some room for new stuff. Tell Kai I say good luck._

_ It's very strange that Julie and April are asking questions about you and I. Julie and I didn't speak much last year, I don't think she liked me much, but she sent me a letter a few months ago and has sent me a few more since. I know this sounds weird but I think she feels bad about what happened to me- like it was somehow her fault. Don't ask me why- like I said we weren't close- but if she's asking you about me it might be that._

_ I would really like to see you over the Holidays. I need to figure out how to skive off my parents for an afternoon in London but that shouldn't be too hard. Let me know the time and day._

_ Keep writing Teddy- and, I can't believe I'm saying this, do something reckless and fun. You sound so unhappy and worried there. You live in a castle where you do magic all day- enjoy it._

_ Love,_

_ Chloe._

* * *

"She said what to you?" Dewey asked.

"That I'm not being reckless," Teddy grunted. He was having a difficult time talking as he was upside down, his feet anchored securely to the ceiling overlooking the corridor.

"Well that sure sounds silly right now," Dewey agreed. He too seemed to be struggling to keep a normal conversational tone as he was hanging upside down next to Teddy. "But" he continued after murmuring yet another _amalgamara_ spell in the direction of his feet. "You have been a lot more... in the background this year."

Teddy shot his own _amalgamara _spell at his feet, forcing them to stick to the ceiling despite the pull of gravity. He checked his watch, feeling a bit nauseous as the floor was where the ceiling normally would be.

"Well Harry and Gran better tell me fifty times over holiday how happy they are that I have kept myself in the background this year; considering they've told me a hundred times to do precisely that."

"Well besides this," Dewey said with a grimace on his face. He had to say this loudly because there was quite the commotion coming from somewhere down the hall.

"Right, besides this," Teddy agreed with his own grimace.

The two boys aimed their wands at their feet, performed the release spell, and fell to the crowd below.

* * *

"Alright, so walk me through this one more time," Neville asked Teddy.

They were sitting in his office, which appeared at the moment to have been hit by some sort of cyclone. Papers were strewn everywhere. His Gryffindor flag was hanging limp from just one of its corners overhead. Only the plants seemed untouched- although Teddy would guess that they would be the first thing that Neville would have corrected after tamping down the chaos of the past ten minutes.

Teddy concentrated on keeping the laughter off his face as he spoke. The situation wasn't exactly funny, but his Head of House was seated on top of a crate with a very boisterous Diricawl inside.

"We were trying to get through the Batty challenge, Dewey and I, when-"

"This challenge," Neville interrupted, jumping a little up and down on the cage which seemed to pacify whatever was shaking it underneath him. "I've already talked to the Ravenclaw girls- they claim they've never heard of this."

Teddy shrugged in what he hoped was a cheerful way. Neville did not seem to be in the mood for shrugs, cheerful or otherwise.

"So are you saying they are lying?" Neville asked him.

"Well we assumed if things went bad, they would deny their involvement. That's how these things generally work."

"So you're hanging upside down- over a corridor that people almost never use - when you and Dewey hear a huge mob of people- panic- and drop down onto them?" Neville asked.

This didn't sound like a question and Teddy didn't answer. He did rub his shoulder, which was fairly sore after hitting the ground rather painfully. It was the only part of their plan that had not gone as hoped.

"And you don't have any idea how this ridiculous bird somehow got into the school- chasing equally ridiculous students all over the castle?"

Teddy suspected that he would later in life explain what really happened that afternoon to Neville; just not until he was well out of Hogwarts. He chose his words carefully. "Professor, if I did know something like that would happen, you can bet the last thing I would want to do that day is to stick my feet to the ceiling and hang around."

Neville stared at Teddy for a moment. "No... that actually makes a little sense."

He sighed and then spelled the door behind Teddy open.

"Who goes through hazing to join the Charms Club?" he said, not fully able to keep the hint of a grin off of his face. "Ron will never believe this story."

* * *

If he were to look beyond the first few moments the next morning in the corridors and entering the great hall where people openly pointed and laughed at him (he could imagine what sort of stories must be going around about Dewey and himself)... If he looked past that, then there was nothing really to complain about. Neville hadn't punished them, no one had gotten hurt, and best of all, they had gotten the serious start which they needed to infect the castle.

Teddy still wasn't sure exactly what germs and virus's were or how they infected the body, but Kai had tried to explain to him the concept anyway. When Stephen showed up in the library a few nights ago and they were about to head out to Professor Babbit's Science Club, Teddy had reluctantly told Kai that he had promised the Slytherin that they would go over Potions work. Kai hadn't looked back but did manage to fill Teddy in on all the various things they would be studying.

It turned out that virus's were a perfect example of what they had started with their Batty challenge. They had a good amount of the blood identifying potion coated onto their hands, their arms, their hair, their clothes, etc, and when they fell into the throng of students, they had spread that potion very quickly. They might have overdid it a bit actually, going out of their way to nudge and bump and handle as many people as they could. In the frenzy of the mob of students though, each trying to figure exactly why students were dropping off the ceiling, as well as why frumpy birds were nipping at their heels in the staircases- everyone was pushing and budging everyone.

As soon as Teddy was excused from Neville's office, he had met Kai and Dewey in the Inter-House Common Room where the Ravenclaw girls already had a table for them and the enchanted map open on the table. Now there were thirty little red dots and they were spread out over the map- pacing in the student dorms, walking the hallways, some just moving around.

"And they just keep multiplying?" Dewey asked after a moment.

"Not multiplying," Eloise said. "Just revealing themselves."

It was a testament to the amount of time the boys had spent with the girls lately that no one giggled at this statement. Eloise must not have realized how suggestive her own statement was, or perhaps didn't care, as she smushed her side up against Dewey's.

The six of them sat in silence for quite awhile as they watched the map. Every time a new dot appeared on the map one of the girls would whisper, "Nomenus Revelus" and a name would appear next to the dot. It was fascinating discovering these new people- particularly in connection to the dot that "revealed them". Clippy popped up from Ursula of all people, near the library. Kaitlin and Leonard popped up not too much later near the Hufflepuff dorm. Teddy suspected that everyone was trying to visualize how these people were meeting and why. If perhaps people might have their own secret friendships that up until now no one knew about.

The six were the among the last to leave the Inter-House Common Room that night. They smiled at one another and left without saying another word.

* * *

The map filled in quickly. The easiest way to keep track of their progress was at the meals where the entire school was in one place. They had each taken extra doses of the blood identifier and found excuses to tag people within their own houses and Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw were all completely filled up.

Slytherin and the faculty were proving difficult. Teddy did manage to bump into his head of house and Kai had gotten his as well.

"We'll put the charm on a letter and distribute it to the teachers," Teddy said to Kai as the two were looking over the map near the end of the afternoon meal and discussing the problem.

"I dunno," Kai said. "They're looking at the mail and probably checking them for magic."

"They wouldn't check a note from a student."

Clippy, who was seated nearby, was watching them. "You guys sure look at that Practical a lot."

Teddy nodded. "Charms Club."

"Uh huh," Clippy said. His look suggested, though, that he didn't buy this story.

Kai rolled the map up. "I'm just going to keep some on me and hope to run into them in the hallway."

"The sooner the better," Teddy said.

"Yeah" Kai agreed, before he changed the subject. "What's this I hear about you joining the Ball Committee?"

Teddy frowned at him. "Who said that?"

To his surprise Clippy colored at this. "I did."

"Well I don't know where you got your information from but I didn't join that committee."

Clippy shrugged. "Madame mentioned it to me."

"Madame?" Teddy said.

"Yeah," Clippy said. "She said everyone from the brain trust signed up."

Kai looked back and forth between them. "Brain trust?


	13. Chapter 13 An Auror Christmas

**Chapter 13****: An Auror Christmas**

The picture on the front page of the Daily Prophet was sobering. Gringotts, the gleaming, pillared bank that had for so long stood as a beacon of order and tradition at the edge of Diagon Alley was in flames. Aurors flanked the entrance of the bank- their bodies obscuring the battle in front of them. Dark smoke drifted away from the bank off to the top corner of the photograph.

**"GRINGOTTS UPRISING"** Read the title underneath.

"Well you wonder how long it was going to take before something like this happened," Colin said as he and seemingly every person in the great hall was looking over a copy of the paper.

"Come off it," Albert said. "Goblins and Wizards have fought lots of times in the past and the bank Goblins have never turned on people before."

"Only a matter of time," Colin repeated.

Teddy noticed that each of the people sitting nearby had waited a few minutes after reading the article before saying anything. They had looked at him as if to see if he would get upset by the news. He supposed it had to do with his Godfather being right in the center of the volatile photograph.

"It says here that a wizard robe storefront on Diagon Alley was knocked into the street," Clippy said.

No one said anything to this and so Clippy nudged Teddy's shoulder. "It was a shop on the second floor of the building. The explosion covered the street below with robes and tables and things."

"Yeah mate," Albert said. "A lot of damage was done to the street."

Clippy was still staring over at Teddy though and he now nodded back at him to indicate that he picked up on his point. Madame Seavelle had suggested at the most recent dinner party that the Dragon Bandits would really get everyone's attention when they started blowing the contents of apartments down into the streets of wizarding London. This was too coincidental. He wondered if he should go to Neville or the Headmistress. But what would he tell them? That Madame had mentioned something like this possibly happening... The headmistress already knew about that anyway- and Neville? Teddy looked over at the staff table where as usual Neville and Dr. Babbit were engaged in conversation. Perhaps Neville was doing as Harry suggested, staying close to the new professor as a way of keeping tabs on him but he didn't seem all that confidential at the moment.

The semester was ending and the winter break beginning at the end of the week. He would see his Godfather then and he would have all the time he would need to discuss just what the Dragon Bandits might be.

Teddy sighed and reread through the article.

**GRINGOTTS UPRISING**

_Reporting by Lewis Hobfly._

_Auror's clashed once again with Goblins on Tuesday morning. This time the bulk of the fighting took place within the lobby and offices of Gringotts Bank. It was the first time in the bank's nearly four hundred year history that Wizard's and Goblins had battled within its premises. Ministry officials immediately pointed out that the Goblins involved were identified from previous attacks, representing segments of a handful of Goblin contingents. Still, the preliminary Auror report indicates that at least three of the fighting Goblins were active Gringott's Employees. _

_Head of Auror Department, Harry Potter, commented, "While I'm happy that we were able to safely remove the employees of Gringotts as well as safeguard the surrounding Diagon Alley, obviously this is an extremely unfortunate situation." Potter, who was working in the area before the attack, was able to quickly summon his fellow Aurors and mount the defense. _

_While the extent of the damage within the bank is unclear, Ministry Officials have confirmed that Auror's had taken up positions throughout the bank. They will provide cover while the team of wizards who previously installed the fabled "Orange Wards" at Hogwarts set up similar measures at the bank. The Prophet has been unable to secure an interview with any Goblin Gringott's employee, however the initial Auror release has confirmed that as soon as the battle had finished and the Gringott's employees were released, the Goblin employees locked themselves within dozens of vaults in the bank._

_Please see the Prophet's continuing coverage on the financial implications of this attack, as well as our ongoing updates about any new released Auror reports._

Someone tapped on his shoulder. "Hey Teddy."

He spun around to find Julie looking at him nervously. "Yes?" he asked her.

"Did you read the article?" she asked.

He glanced down at the paper and then back at her.

"Right- stupid question. I was wondering..." she began. She paused, looking back and forth to see if any of the students around were listening. Clippy, Kaitlin, and Albert, were indeed doing this. "I heard you're going to be at the Ball Committee tonight."

Teddy nodded despite himself. He had a sneaking suspicion that Violet was behind his "volunteering" and, as he hadn't spent nearly as much time with her lately as he had with Kai and Dewey, he had decided to just go ahead to the meeting and not complain about it too much.

"Great," Julie said. "We can walk down together."

She had one of the first non-self conscious smiles on her face that Teddy had seen on her this year and he couldn't help but smile back at her and nod.

Kaitlin watched the older witch leave, a look of mingled disgust was plain on her face. "Ball Committee?" she asked.

Teddy shot a piece of bacon in her direction which hit the invisible shield guarding her face.

"Your getting pretty good at that," Teddy said to her.

She laughed. "I just get ready for it whenever you're nearby."

As she said this though Teddy had whispered the spell once more and this time another snub of bacon pegged her left ear.

"Always room for improvement I guess," he said.

The boys around them all laughed at this, laughing even harder when Kaitlin picked the bacon piece off the floor and whipped it back at Teddy. It made a slight _Donk_ sound off of his own shield which seemed to annoy the first year even more. She was reaching down to grab the other slice of bacon when Vin, who had walked up silently behind her, put his arm onto her shoulder.

"Alright Firstie, Lupin. That's enough fighting for one morning."

She glared at him but dropped the piece of bacon into his open hand.

"Now, now," Vin admonished. "You keep this up and you're going to make your punker boyfriend jealous."

Kaitlin's glare turned into a scowl, while Vin joined Teddy, Albert, and Clippy in laughter.

* * *

True to her word, Julie found Teddy in the common room later that night.

"Come on we don't want to be late," she said as Teddy packed the various books spread out in front of him into his pack. "We need to beat the Ravenclaws."

"What?" Teddy asked. "Why?"

She didn't explain though, instead she grabbed the last book on the table and stuffed it into his bag herself. "Come on," she repeated and this time she actually grabbed his arm and started walked in the direction of the door.

"Alright, alright," Teddy said as he hurried after her. He noticed that she didn't say goodbye to April who was seated near the portal and watched them leave.

"She doesn't want to go," Julie said, apparently reading his mind. "I tried."

She sighed but the effect was somewhat mitigated as the walk/jog pace that they were doing through the hallway made it seem like maybe she was just breathing heavy.

"Why do we have to beat the Ravenclaws?" Teddy repeated.

"Because the Slytherin cows seem to like them the most," she glanced at him out of the side of her eye. "Sorry."

He shrugged, guessing that she had forgotten about his cousin when saying this. This wasn't all that difficult when thinking of the Slytherin girls in their year.

"What does it matter what they think?" Teddy asked.

They were at the top of the staircase leading down to the dungeons and she stopped for a moment to stare at him inquisitively. After a moment she shook her head.

"You're lucky," she said.

They went down the steps in the direction of the Ball Committee.

* * *

"I just don't see why that's so unreasonable," Decima said.

"Trust me- you spend some time as a prefect and you realize that it's like herding cats here," Ursula responded.

They were in the middle of what seemed like the sixth or seventh argument of the night- this time Decima (along with her Slytherin friends) had suggested a mandatory dress code for the upcoming ball.

"It's a formal event," Decima said, sounding like this were the most obvious statement in the world.

"And the students with sense will realize that," said Ursula.

Seavelle, who was watching the back and forth exchanges with growing frustration, held up one hand. "Good work everyone, but I think we're losing a bit of focus on the dance itself."

Teddy, who had found a spot near Violet, with the hope of quietly mocking the self-important students with her, realized right away that Violet was taking the event as serious as everyone else. So instead, he had said nothing over the course of the hour. He wasn't planning on attending any more of these meetings though and didn't really care either way what people were discussing.

"What I think would help," Seavelle continued as she stared down at the notes she had taken, "Is if some of these... side discussions- if we can get some volunteers to hash out the finer points at a separate time for the ball committee to approve of later."

A number of the girls in the room shared excited looks at the mention of yet another, even smaller and more focused committee.

"But we've got a lot accomplished tonight. I'll let the Headmistress know of our progress at the next staff meeting."

This was the usual type of tidy and businesslike statement that Seavelle tended to end her classes with and the group all got up to leave.

"Hey," Teddy called out to Violet who seemed to be leaving with the Slytherin girls.

She turned around, looking surprised, as if this was the first time she saw him that evening.

"You never got back to me about visiting over break," Teddy said to her.

She sighed. "I'd like to."

Teddy nodded. "Your mom." It wasn't that unexpected of an answer- still how difficult would it have been for her to let him know?

"I'll be gone for most of the break. Scorpio's first trip to Italy."

"That's great," Teddy said. "It's too bad- everyone would have liked to see you again. Harry asked about you in his last letter."

"Did he?" Violet shot back- her eyebrows raced.

"Yeah," Teddy said slowly. "He wanted to know if you were coming over break. He asked about Kai and Dewey as well."

Violet smiled at this but it seemed icier than he was used to. She glanced over at Julie who was waiting near the door for him to walk back with her.

"Tell your family that I appreciate the invite, but I won't be able to make it this holiday," she said before adding, "and Happy Christmas."

Teddy nodded. "You too."

* * *

So it was with some frostiness that Teddy left for his winter break. As a safety precaution, students had waited in a long line outside the Headmistress's office, where, one by one, they had flooed to an undisclosed location.

When he emerged from the fireplace he wasn't surprised to find himself face to face with his Godparent. Harry was smiling broadly, and immediately wrapped him up in a close hug before pushing him in the direction of some Auror's near the bar (he smiled to himself as he wondered whose idea it was to send the students to the Hog's Head as the secret location).

"We'll see you soon Teddy," Harry called behind him, and he found himself being herded into a group of six or seven students and then briskly walked, aurors on each side of them, to the already steaming Hogwarts Express.

In the rush and seriousness of getting the students onto the train, Teddy had simply taken the same compartment that everyone else had.

"Reckon they're going to attack the train?" one of the boys in his compartment asked no one in particular.

Teddy frowned at him but, like the rest of the group, did not answer. This seemed just as well to the boy. "I hope they don't but if they did..." he smiled like the left unsaid sentence was impossibly exciting.

"What's your name?" asked a Slytherin sixth year.

"Marcus," the chirpy young boy responded.

"Marcus, do us a favor and stuff it," the Slytherin said.

Perhaps it was because this statement was said without any malice, or perhaps because the young boy didn't really care even if there might have been, but Marcus nodded without losing his grin. He pivoted from his spot near the window so that he could rest his forehead against the glass, his hands propping up his chin as he intently watched the world outside.

Teddy had anticipated finding his friends during the ride over but had gotten distracted by the arrival of Kaitlin, Clippy, Leonard and James.

"Hey, we don't want any trouble," one of the older girls in the compartment said to them.

"What?" Leonard asked her.

Before she could reply to this though, Marcus, who had spun around to see the visitors, was rushing to greet the first years at the door.

"Leonard, James," he said his hand in the air in the Muggle slap greet fashion. "Kaitlin," he added swinging his arm out in a large arc for any of the three to return the gesture.

"Hey man," Leonard said back somewhat distractedly. He quickly gave Marcus a high five than swerved around him to catch Teddy's eye. "Can I talk to you?" he asked.

Teddy nodded. He noticed the other people in the compartment giving him questioning looks as he left the compartment. He returned their look with a shrug and followed the punkers, Marcus in tow, down the corridor.

"So, where are we at?" James said as he and Leonard walked on either side of Teddy.

"Did you guys figure it out yet?" Leonard asked.

The two boys, who generally looked either guilty or indifferent whenever Teddy saw them in the great hall or in the corridors, each now reminded him of a kid at their first Quidditch match. There voices were higher than they usually sounded and each was grinning like Marcus had earlier. Teddy glanced behind him and noticed Kaitlin and Clippy talking to Marcus.

"Yeah," he told them, smiling himself. "We think we found a way to get to the room without getting caught."

"And we won't have to worry about people sneaking in on us?" Leonard asked.

Teddy nodded. "My only condition is that you don't find out how I did it- but yeah, after break we can figure out a night and then we'll go as a group."

"Early Christmas gift," James said, as he put his own hand in the air for the high five. Teddy rolled his eyes but slapped it.

"Hey," Marcus called from behind them. "I've lived with you for a full semester and this is the first time I've seen you do that."

James nodded, "You're not Mr. Teddy Lupin though."

* * *

"If you kids don't smile and look happy then I'm going to hex the smile on your face., Ginny said. Her wand was aimed threateningly at the various Potter's and Weasley's that she had spent the last few minutes wrangling for the perfect Christmas picture.

James, the oldest of the Potter children, whispered something to his brother Albus, whose eyes seemed to grow twice as big and he instinctively leaned away from his brother with a look of disgust on his face.

"You think I'm kidding James?" Ginny said with a tone eerily reminiscent of Grandma Weasley.

James shook his head but grinned at Teddy when his mom turned back to the camera.

"What did you tell him?" Teddy asked.

"I told him if your nose gets splinched then your brains can leak through the hole." James chuckled at the idea and then motioned towards his younger brother. "That one's not going to be a healer."

Teddy kept facing forward and smiling at the camera but he put his hand up for James to give him a high five (a favorite of all the kids since he showed them earlier that break). James clapped it and hearing the noise, Rose Weasely put her hand up.

"Can it wait till after the picture Teddy?" Ginny said as all the kids surrounding him were waving their hands near his face to get their own five.

"Sorry," Teddy said. "You heard your mom or aunt- leave me alone."

The picture would be a classic in the family album. A half dozen kids all either laughing or pouting or rolling their eyes at Teddy who alone was smiling broadly at the camera.

* * *

Grandma Weasely had outdone herself this Christmas. The table was loaded down with garlic mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, meat stuffing, crispy turkey legs, mounds of steamed vegetables, and of course a massive gleaming Goose.

The Potters and Weasley families had all dressed up, and for once Teddy didn't particularly mind his formal dress robes (his Grandma had given him Gryfindor colored robes as an early Christmas gift- which he greatly preferred to the borrowed ones that he had been using this semester). The families ate seconds, thirds (in Ron's case fourth's) and then settled back in their chairs to slowly work on one of the many pies Grandma Weasely brought out.

"Who are you taking to the dance?" Ginny asked out of the blue.

Teddy had to look around a little bit before realizing that she was speaking to him (which was stupid considering there wasn't any one else at the table that was attending school). When he did return her look she was grinning at him.

"Not sure," he replied.

"What dance?" asked Victoire.

"What do you mean not sure?" Ginny asked.

"I don't even know if I'm going," Teddy said. "It'-"

"Well don't be silly," Andromeda said cutting him off. "Of course you're going."

Victoire, who had been tugging at her mom's sleeve to get her to answer her question, instead yanked on Grandma Weasley's. "Grandma, what dance?"

"I don't know dear," she replied.

Albus and Rose were giggling about something, giggling harder after Teddy frowned at them.

"Wait," Ginny said. "You're not sure who you would take if you would go? Or you're not sure if you will go? Because it sounds like you're dodging my question."

"Stop picking on him Gin," Harry said with a smile. "I'm sure he's got it hard enough deciding who he's going to take."

Teddy glared at Harry and the other adults nearby who all seemed to be highly amused by Ginny and now Harry's interrogation.

"The dance sounds like it won't be that fun," he said, shrugging when the adults arched their eyes at this. "Everyone's making way too big a deal out of it."

"Stop evading," Ron said. "Who are you going to take?"

Everyone around the table was staring at him in expectation for an answer so he relented.

"Well, I would ask Chloe..."

The humorous expression on the adult's face fell a bit at this and he regretted his words.

"Teddy…" Ginny began.

"I know," he replied. "She probably wouldn't be able to, or would feel weird, but-"

"No, Teddy," Ginny said, interrupting him, "That's just very sweet of you."

He groaned at this, to James, Albus, and Rose's delight. Victoire, on the other hand, did not seem as amused.

"Grandma the meal was delicious. I must head for bed though."

She turned and with her head held high, stormed out of the room.

"That seems like as good a cue as any," Ron said with a chuckle. "Time for all of you to get to bed."

The kids groaned at this but no one complained when adults around the table collected them and marched them in the direction of the guest rooms upstairs.

Teddy watched them go upstairs but did not move. His grandma, as she tended to do on Christmas evening, looked exhausted and ready to floo home. She and Harry had gotten into a long argument a few days ago about the safety of the floo network. It wasn't really an argument so much as Harry laying out his points and then acquiescing to the willful older women. Teddy and Andromeda flooed from their fireplace (rather than a secure and out of the way place Harry wanted) and they would do the same on the way back.

Except Teddy wasn't tired and wasn't ready to head back to their house. His Grandma seemed to notice this as she was fastening her traveling cloak and he was still slowly pawing at his piece of rhubarb pie.

"Make sure he gets back safe," she said looking at Harry.

He stopping pouring the coffee in the adults cups around the table and nodded to her.

"Happy Christmas," she said and then flooed away.

In no time at all, the kitchen had cleared out so that only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Teddy were left. Teddy loved being up in this kitchen late at night. The ever noisy, ever bustling house, took on the most tranquil and comfy feeling. It felt both empty and full at the same time. He liked hearing his various family members shuffle around upstairs, as well as the steady click of the Weasely's ancient clock.

"So," Harry said slowly from his spot across the table. "What's this I hear about Charms Club and batty something or other?"

Teddy grinned. He should have figured that Neville would have found a chance to tell Harry about that. It was probably a Christmas favor of his Godfather's that his grandma had yet to find out.

"It was kind of stupid," he admitted.

"The Charms Club?" asked a confused Ron.

He nodded. "Dewey and I joined. We made friends with some Ravenclaws but apparently we weren't in the club until we could hang upside down on the ceiling for ten minutes."

"The Charms Club?" Ron asked again.

Hermoine smacked his shoulder. "I wish I would have joined that club in school. I bet everyone in it are the best in that class."

Teddy, who definitely wasn't the best in charms but didn't want to admit that, shrugged.

"So these Ravenclaws…" Hermoine said. "They must be older if they were able to convince you to do such a thing- my guess is they were also witches?"

Teddy laughed. "You guys have been on me all night about witches."

"Another evasion," said Ron.

"They were definitely witches" Harry said. "Neville didn't need to tell me that either."

Teddy shrugged again and soon they were all laughing.

"On a more serious note," Harry said, "I have been talking to Neville frequently about how things are going at the castle. I told him to keep an eye on you this semester."

He wasn't sure how he felt about this. On the one hand, he didn't like that his Godfather (and probably his Gran) thought he required extra supervision, and having his Head of House closely watching him wasn't a pleasant thought either. On the other hand, Neville was obviously not keeping too close of a watch as they had put together a fairly decent Marauder's Map right under his nose.

"With everything that happened last year Teddy..." Harry began, "I kind of expected you going back to the castle like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders. Especially with hearing about Babbit."

"We all did," Ron said as he put his free arm around his wife.

"Well, I am curious," he admitted. "But I really have been busy this semester."

He thought about this though and realized that he had been waiting for months to get some answers from them. All of the sudden he found words pouring from his mouth. "If I had never had heard from you about him I would probably not give him a second thought. But you have told me that he's (he brought his voice down) been exiled. And that he might be recruiting, and that you guys are watching him and apparently Neville is and-"

Harry put his hand up to cut him off. "Yes, I get it. And I have been planning to keep you in the loop to the extent that I'm able." He sighed, looking at Ron and Hermoine who clearly were leaving this conversation to Harry. "Alright, let's start with what technically anyone can know..."

"James Babbit was working at the Flamel Institute in Boston- a large city on the east coast of America. He was, and is, a highly respected academic. His research in Transfiguration, particularly in knowing the extremely small changes within objects has been extremely influential. I'm sure Hermoine could tell you why- all I know is that he was a highly valued professor there."

"And the really impressive thing about him is that he went through Muggle Universities for a decade during his wizard schooling," Hermoine said.

"He mentioned his becoming a Doctor," Teddy said.

Hermoine nodded. "It takes a very long time to do that. He must have been writing a dozen Muggle and Wizard research papers a year- and Harry's right, the work he was doing was the talk of the European schools as well as it must have been in the States."

"So what happened?" Teddy said.

"He was doing more than just going to school," Ron said. "He was holding meetings in University towns throughout the area."

Harry nodded. "We're not sure about what exactly but the Wizarding government found out that both Wizards and Muggles were meeting with him and that the International Statue of Secrecy was violated at most of those meetings."

"Was he confounding them?" Teddy asked.

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so."

"What?" Teddy asked. "Do you know what he was doing?"

The three adults shared a look. "No," Ron admitted. "But we don't think he was doing anything harmful to them because some of the Muggles were interrogated later and they had their wits about them to not admit to anything one way of the other."

Teddy stared at them, not sure what they were getting at. "What do you mean? The American Aurors or government or whatever questioned Muggles and couldn't tell what he did to them? Couldn't they have used Veritserum?"

Harry nodded. "They could have, they might have. Although they probably wouldn't need to- it's fairly easy for a wizard to obtain whatever memories they need from a Muggle."

"It's one of the worst things wizards like Voldemort and his followers did during the Second War," Hermoine said. "Ripping memories out of any Muggle they suspected might have seen or known anything about the Order of the Phoenix members."

Teddy's heart skipped a beat at this, as this description automatically conjured up Chloe at her Muggle school in London.

"Whatever the American government did find, they aren't telling us," Harry said. "But the descriptions we have obtained did not suggest that he was doing anything more than just performing simple, visual spellwork."

What had Babbit called his demonstration in their Herbology class? A light show? Was he possibly doing the same lecture for them?

"The American government didn't tell us how their conversation with him went but they did detain him briefly before he left the country for Europe."

"And the Headmistress knew about all of this before taking him on?" Teddy asked somewhat incredulously.

"She knew he was in some trouble," Harry admitted. "But she also has a number of American contacts who all swore that there is more to this story than what we know, that their government has its own problems and that the Professor was a trustworthy guy."

"A bunch of rubbish," Ron said under his breath, which Hermoine frowned at but neither she nor Harry challenged.

"And so he's meeting with people here too?"

Harry nodded, "Or he was, before the Orange Wards were installed."

Teddy stared at him in amazement. "You guys put those up to keep him in the castle?"

Harry did not move his eyes away from Teddy saying. "That wasn't the main reason for it but it definitely is a nice side benefit."

"And did he violate the statue of secrecy since being here?"

"Well…" Ron began but his and everyone else's attention went to the fireplace in the living room. The unlit logs suddenly were illuminated by a canopy of green flames. An Auror's face (Teddy had seen him before but did not remember his name) appeared, looking wildly back and forth.

"Oh thank Merlin! You two are here," he said.

"What is it Rawlings?" Harry said, already getting to his feet and throwing his robe on over his Christmas sweater.

"It's the bank again, sir," Rawlings replied. "We think it's really them this time."

"I told you Harry," Ron said, appearing next to him in his own Wizard clothes. "I told you we would get a shot at the Dragon Bandits."


	14. Chapter 14 The New Map

**Chapter 14****: The New Map**

The floo had not gone cold, before Harry and Ron had given quick hugs and then departed to Diagon Alley.

"You are not to leave the Burrow till we get back," Harry told him. His Godfather looked over at Hermoine and said, "Send Andromeda your patronus explaining that Teddy is safe but no one is using the Floo networks until I say so."

"What's so unsafe about the…" Teddy began to ask, but noticing the stern expression on Hermoine's face, left the rest of the question go unsaid. Instead he and Hermoine sat in the kitchen drinking the rest of their drinks. She had told him at first that it was late and that they likely wouldn't return for quite awhile but neither of them had made a move to their bedrooms.

"What are Dragon Bandits?" Teddy finally asked, breaking a long silence.

The question brought to her face the look she generally got when she thought an idea was preposterous and not worth serious discussion. "I don't know," she said slowly. "But the general theory is that they are radicals who are interested in profiting from the Goblin-Wizard battles".

"You don't think they're real?" he asked her.

Hermoine had at some point in her life, learned the wand trick that so many other wizards had figured out, where one can rotate it in small circles between two fingers, then the next two fingers, then the next, back and forth along the hand in a quick seamless motion. She was doing this now so rapidly that small golden sparks were shooting silently out and dying over her leg and the carpet. She didn't seem to notice this though, or Teddy's question, as her eyes were stuck to Teddy's left where he knew the Weasely's family clock was currently indicating her loved one's fate.

Teddy coughed and pulled her out of her reverie.

"After the war," she began. "There was a lot of confusion about who was a death eater, who was a sympathizer, who was imperioused, that sort of thing. Same as after the first war- we were told many times. During that time, Auror's were rounding up wizards and there were confrontations. There were misunderstandings, bad feelings and feuds were formed."

She noticed a spark that had landed on her ankle and gently placed her wand on the table.

"Those years were strange, the Prophet was full of wild stories that the Auror's and the ministry refused to comment on. There were establishment Death Eaters and rogue Death Eaters, wizard radicals, tin-pot dark lords, sympathizers to all sorts of odd causes. And amongst the rubble there was a rumored band of wizards that everyone whispered about."

"The Dragon Bandits?" Teddy asked.

She rolled her eyes. "That's what the Prophet called them. Some stores were blown apart and everything was stolen and the next thing you hear is that there is a conspiracy of sorts. It's ridiculous."

There was a silence again as Teddy tried to imagine the dozens of wizards foolish enough after Voldemort's defeat to try and start new criminal organizations.

Hermoine was looking over in the direction of the clock again. She seemed to have to force herself to look back at Teddy. For someone as reasonable and confident as her, Teddy found himself more scared than he could remember at seeing the look of helplessness on her face.

"Tell me about school Teddy. About Witches or Charms Club or about anything besides Dragon Bandits."

Teddy brought out his own wand and used one of the charms that he had picked up at the aforementioned club to make the kettle pour a cup of tea for each of them. Normally an adult would chastise this sort of flaunting of underage wizardry laws in the house but the spellwork clearly amused Hermoine. A small smile came over her face.

"Do you know," Teddy said after using the same charm to drop a cube of sugar in each of their cups, "much about what happened with Harry and the Philosophers Stone?"

The small smile that had came onto her face blossomed into a grin.

"I am exactly the right person to tell you about what happened to Harry and that stone. In fact, I am a better person than Harry at telling you what happened with him and that stone, because unlike your dear Godfather, I actually spent some of my post-Hogwart's life researching the various exploits that we got ourselves into. That particular exploit proved far more interesting than his tussle with a giant snake."

"Hard to believe," Teddy said.

"Believe it," she replied. "A snake is a snake. Maybe a thousand years of snake life, but really not that interesting. Now the stone on the other hand..."

She looked about ready to launch into (what Ron kindly referred to as) "mighty lecture mode" when she paused. "What brought your question on?"

Teddy leaned back into his chair having finished his tea and ready to hear her story. "Just because I can't investigate the new teachers around me doesn't mean I'm not curious as to what they bring up."

Hermoine narrowed her eyes at this. She seemed to have her own questions for him, or perhaps was reconsidering talking about the stone now. Teddy would not find out though as the Floo suddenly burnt bright green again. This time Harry's face called out to them.

"We're safe, things have calmed down for the moment, and you," he said, now glancing at Teddy, "will need to resume your talk later. I'm going to fill your grandma in on what's going on in five minutes and I expect to see you there with her."

* * *

The second battle at Gringotts had been far worse than the first. Teddy wasn't sure what Harry had meant when he said things had calmed down as the Prophet reported the next morning that the fight between the Goblins and Auror's had gone on throughout the evening. Many of the employees had fought alongside the Goblins this time (many of them emerging right before the skirmish prompting widespread speculation about a well planned conspiracy between the Gringott Goblins and the "Wild" Goblins). Needless to say, the Wizards had wholly assumed control of the bank. It, along with large sections of Diagon Alley, were closed down for the time being.

Which meant Teddy wouldn't be seeing Chloe after all. He had sent her an owl the next morning explaining the situation and urging her not to go to Wizarding London (not that she would likely get through anyway as most of the Muggle entrances were as heavily restricted as Gringotts.)

All in all it was a gloomy way to spend his break and he was all to glad when it was time to board the Hogwarts Express.

"Have a good semester, Teddy," his Gran told him as she straightened his tie and patted down his cloak.

"I will," he replied.

"And make sure you find someone for the dance before it's too late."

He rolled his eyes at this and barely ducked away before she could swat at him.

"I realize you probably have a number of people you could ask, but you're doing them a disservice by making them wait."

An arrival of a large noisy family momentarily distracted her and in the interval before she looked back at him Teddy had carefully changed his face so that it perfectly matched her own.

"No grandson of mine is going to be doing a disservice to nice witches," he said, in perhaps a bit more of a scolding tone them his Gran ever used.

She laughed all the same and this time her hand did lightly smack the back of his head.

"Watch it," she replied, and giving him a more serious look remarked, "Charms Club, Dinner Parties, and no detentions thus far... You're nearly reaching my expectations!"

"Thanks for reminding me," he replied. Then giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, he boarded the train.

* * *

"So tell me again why I am attending another one of your clubs?" Dewey asked Kai, who was on the other side of Teddy. The three of them were hurrying to the Muggle Science Club, hurrying because they weren't entirely sure where they were supposed to be going and were already five minutes late.

"It worked out for you last time," Kai said.

"He's got a point," Teddy said, noting the scowl on Dewey's face. "Besides, we don't have much else to do this evening."

"Where's Violet?" Kai asked Teddy.

Teddy didn't answer. He wasn't sure where his cousin was, but it was likely somewhere with Nagaeena, Ursula, and whoever else was on the _ball society subcommittee. _He had yet to speak with her for more than a few sentences before someone from her little group interrupted with questions about this or that.

"We need to go to this meeting," Teddy said as they neared a noisy classroom. "Because, of the four remaining targets in this school, one of them will definitely be in attendance."

Kai and Dewey did not say anything to this, as the classroom door opened with Doctor Babbit on the other end.

"Alright, in you go," he said to the students, before popping his head out to the hallway where he appeared to be checking to see if anyone else was coming.

If Teddy would have stumbled into this room and not seen Dr Babbit he would have a hard time placing the assembly as the Muggle Science club. He would have a hard time placing it as anything at Hogwarts.

Students were gathered around scattered circular tables. Everyone was wearing large wrap-around eye glasses that protuded from their heads like strange see through boxes. They were all concerned with a metallic object in the center of each table. The students were adjusting the little knobs and, strangely, sniffing the device.

There was a yell from somewhere behind Teddy and turning he saw that the device on the table had started on fire. It wasn't the passive flicker of a candle though, it was a narrow, furiously streaming jet of fire that reached out nearly a foot. The students around the fire were cheering and clapping one another on the back.

"Yes, yes- very nice," Dr Babbit said as he made his way over to the table. "Honestly you witches and wizards can make fire anytime you want, but when you manage to do it the Muggle way, it's like reinventing the wheel."

Teddy, Dewey, and Kai looked at one another.

"Though when Muggles start their Bunsen burners, it generally doesn't take ten minutes," Babbit continued. "So come on now- everyone else, let's get going." He turned, apparently seeing Teddy and his friends for the first time. Did his eyes linger on Teddy longer than the others? Teddy couldn't be sure, but the professor seemed to have that effect.

"For our new guests, find a spot at one of the tables," Babbit said as he made his way over to his own desk where he rummaged through a cardboard box perched on top. "Goggles," he said to the three as he threw a pair to each of them. "Come on, let's get going, we only have an hour."

Babbit gave each table a bag of seeds of something called 'popcorn'.

"Would it be stupid to ask why they call it that?" a lanky fifth year boy asked. Like many of the other people in the Hufflepuff house, he had the same patch (black with a snarling red badger glaring back) on the top left corner of his robes that the Punkers all wore.

Despite the relatively large and active room, Babbit's mumbled reply was perfectly audible. "Very much so."

Kai grinned at this and within a few seconds had figured out how to turn on their burner.

"Wait," Dewey cried. "I haven't put on the goggles yet!"

"Relax," Kai said as he opened the bag of seeds and levitated them directly into the flame. "My sister's fiancée used these all the time in his Muggle School and their class work never sounded that dangerous."

Teddy was about to ask him just how thoroughly Kai questioned his poor future-brother-in-law about his education when the seeds begin to shake back and forth. He barely had a chance to fit his own goggles onto his face before the seeds exploded in all directions, bouncing off their glasses, and flying out onto the floor.

"I take it none of you read the notes about making a protective shield before conducting the experiment," Babbit said, one of his arms pointing behind him in the direction of the large white board which was indeed covered in his class notes.

"Muggles have weird eating habits," Dewey replied, as he pulled bits of popcorn out of his hair.

The rest of the class, perhaps observing the second year's mistake, was much more careful about controlling their food explosions. The various groups floated their batches of popcorn in front of them, like small densely populated galaxies. Each group happily helping themselves to the food.

"So how do Muggles do this?" Teddy asked Kai who was glaring at one of the nearby groups who were charming their popcorn to fly around the room in wide arcs and zoom directly into various people's mouths.

"They have these special boxes that heat up the food within," Kai replied, still glaring at the group.

"Guys," Dewey interrupted. "We sort of avoided doing most of the experiment."

The instructions on the board that Dewey was pointing to indicated to weigh the bags of popcorn on the class scale before and after the seeds take shape.

"Why would we do that?" Teddy asked.

Kai sighed, pulling himself out of his brief funk. "The Ravenclaws mentioned Conservation of Matter. We're supposed to figure out that you can't remove or destroy anything in the universe."

"By popping seeds?" Teddy replied.

Kai nodded. "Although there is probably a simpler way. Apparently Dr. Babbit likes bright and strange demonstrations."

The professor was standing at the front of the class, watching the various groups finish popping and eating their popcorn. Seeing how many of the students were staring at him, he looked down at his wristwatch, and back to them. "Alright, that's all for this evening."

Teddy and Dewey glanced at one another in confusion. Kai on the other hand was already packing his stuff.

"Is this the way he normally leads his classes?" Teddy asked him.

Kai nodded. "Also I didn't tell you but there were reading selections we needed to have gone through before the meeting. It would have explained a lot."

"Thanks," Dewey replied.

The three were walking out of the classroom when they heard Guy Thomas ask, "How does the Conservation of Matter explain magical transmutations?"

Dr. Babbit leaned back in his chair, resting his head in his hands. "It's a bit more complicated, but the law still applies."

"So magic can't destroy matter either?" Guy asked. He had pulled out the same small little notebook that he had used at Seavelle's dinner party and while he held the book in front of him a pen scribbled back and forth seemingly of its own volition.

"Nor can it make matter," Babbit replied. "I can offer you some articles and books on the subject but you're going to have to wait for my full explanation as we're covering it in a few weeks in class."

Guy nodded, closing his book. The students around Teddy, Kai, and Dewey, who, like them, were also waiting near the door and listening to this conversation started to move out.

"I just was wondering," Guy added, "because Madame Seavelle mentioned that there have been some interesting new theories on the limitations to Gamp's Law and the two topics seem related.

Teddy put his arms out to stop Kai and Dewey in their tracks outside the classroom.

"Guy, why do I get the feeling that you are trying to get me to bad mouth Madame's theories?"

"What?" Guy quickly replied, "Sir, that's the last thing..."

Babbit sighed, cutting off the Ravenclaw. "Madame's not the first person to challenge the inevitability of Gamp's Law and she won't be the last."

Guy, in a small but determined voice, said, "she's suggested that the Philosopher's Stone disproves parts of Gamp's Law... Wouldn't the same be true for the Conservation of Matter?"

It was quiet in the room for a bit, but soon enough they heard the sound of a piece of paper being ripped.

"Read that article Guy, and then come back and talk to me about matter."

* * *

Posters had been hung throughout the hallways, in many classrooms, and featured prominently on the bulletin board of each common room.

'_**Winterlude is coming' **_they shouted (a few literally). There was a picture of a previous Hogwart's ball where the finely dressed students continuously danced around in circles. Perhaps most distressing about the signs though was the postscript, '**Be sure to vote for the prince and princess of your class.'**

It was distressing to Teddy at least because word had spread that Teddy was a lock for prince.

"Please shut up about that," he told Albert and April who were openly discussing it at lunch one afternoon.

"Well honestly Teddy, I don't see why it would bother you," April said.

Albert nodded. "Yeah, that one's already locked up. The more interesting question is who the princess is going to be."

Teddy grabbed a sandwich from the platter in front of him and left the table. Although it wasn't prohibited for students to eat with other houses, it didn't happen often (besides the occasional transplanted sibling or inter-house relationship). Violet certainly wasn't expecting to see Teddy sitting next to her when she turned around.

"Teddy?" she squeaked. She recovered quickly, despite the snickers of her fellow Slytherins, and managed to smirk at him. "Trouble with the Gryffindors?"

"Not really..." he answered, his mouth full of sandwich to his cousin's obvious disgust. "I just needed a change of scenery."

Ursula, who was walking by on her way out of the Great Hall noticed him and gave the two of them a shrewd look. "Do you need anything, Lupin?"

"Nope, just wanted to spend some time with my cousin."

Ursula glanced back and forth between the two and then left without another word.

"Thanks," Violet replied. "Now I'm going to have to explain that to the subcommittee..."

"Explain what?" Teddy asked.

Violet did not answer right away though. She motioned to the sandwich in his hand indicating (in a way that he might not have picked up on when he had first gotten to know her) that she wouldn't continue the conversation until he was done eating.

"Really?" Teddy asked.

She waited, watching him.

Teddy wolfed down the rest of the sandwich in two bites. He swallowed in an exaggerated fashion. "Satisfied?"

She rolled her eyes but smiled. "Explain that I am not conspiring with you to become princess."

"What?" Teddy barked.

The Slytherins, who Teddy knew were trying to listen, all jumped back a bit in their seats at this.

Violet colored a bit but she didn't look away. "The subcomittee thinks everyone is trying to get on the court."

"Wow," Teddy remarked. "And all this time I thought the Slytherins were plotting for ways to advance in the world... sort of a letdown."

Violet huffed a bit at this but didn't have time to respond as Kai had plopped down across the table from them. He was smiling broadly and looked far more comfortable then he probably should. Behind him Dewey bit his lip and looked ready to leave.

"You know this isn't an Inter-house table." Violet said.

"It isn't?" Kai responded. "Sometimes I forget."

"Violet!" called Nageena. She was waiting a few feet away, a small group of girls (including, to Teddy's surprise, Julie) perched behind her. Nageena managed to glare at Kai, give a polite nod to Dewey, and smile at Teddy within the course of one brief sweep of her eyes, and then she and the girls were heading out of the hall.

Violet seemed to be gritting her teeth, whether this was still aimed at the non-slytherin wizards sharing their table or at the snapping leadership of Nageena, Teddy wasn't sure. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair as if inviting her to stick around for awhile but she was already wrapping her shawl around her neck and getting up to leave.

"C'mon Violet," Teddy said. "We haven't talked to you in ages. I haven't heard about your holiday."

"And you haven't heard any gossip lately," Kai said. "Like that this guy (he pointed back in the direction of Dewey) and an older witch are a hot item."

Dewey lightly cuffed him on the back of the head.

Violet sighed. "I know and I'm sure you boys have fascinating things to say. I'm just swamped right now," she glanced off to her far right where Stephen White was already leaving the table and then looked back at them. "Let me know a good night this week to study in the library and I'll be there."

Teddy nodded but he wasn't sure if she saw as she hurried away.

"Well that didn't go well," Dewey said.

Kai waved one of his hands dismissively. "She'll come around when this stupid dance is over. I needed to speak to you guys anyway."

Two Slytherin fifth years walking by glared at them but did not say anything. Kai ignored them though, as he leaned in closer to Teddy.

"So Babbit must have touched one of our goggles after the class last night," he said quietly, looking back and forth to make sure the Slytherins weren't listening. The table was clearing out however and no one seemed to be within hearing distance.

Dewey, leaned over Kai's shoulder, and said in an equally cautious tone, "Eloise managed to tag those weird sixth years that don't talk to anyone."

Kai nodded. "And best of all, I managed to run into Llewellyn yesterday."

Teddy's mouth dropped open at this. "What happened?"

Kai put both of his hands up. "I knew I had a bit of the powder on me when I was walking in the hallway. I saw her out of the corner of my eye walking by and I (he jerked his head rapidly to the side) toppled over infront of her. Nearly tripped her in the process- it was brilliant."

Teddy briefly imagined Kai falling over in front of the headmistress and then pretending to be embarrassed and nervous when she helped him to his feet. He grinned over at his friend.

"So that means..." Kai continued- but Dewey still leaning over him, beat him to the punch. "We try out our charm practical this evening."

* * *

Dewey's words were easier said than done. It had certainly been thrilling for Teddy, Dewey, and Kai to unroll their map, mutter _maraudaus revealus _(Kai's idea for the phrase that would reveal all the dots on the map) and then watch as the whole of the school body seemed to come alive in front of them. They had all stared at the now completed map for a minute, each searching out different people and spotting them.

But having a map that revealed where everyone was and then actually using it was a different story. For one thing, the map identified just how many older students, prefects, and teachers were patrolling a given hallway at any time. Their path from the Inter-House Common Room to the Room of Requirement would require traversing a number of hallways. This would be more difficult considering Teddy was adamant that the secret of the map should stay with the Ravenclaws, Kai, Dewey, and himself.

"What's the point of the map if we can't tell other people about it?" Kai asked Teddy and Dewey as they hurried down the hallway they were in. Kai and Dewey were nervously clutching brooms to their sides as they ran while Teddy didn't bother looking beyond the map in his hand, relying on his friends at his side to tell him if he was about to run into anything.

"If we were to tell anyone we would tell Vi," Teddy said.

Kai groaned (as he did whenever either of his friends used that name around him).

"And I imagine we will tell her, once we get a chance to speak to her. Beyond her though, I don't trust anyone else to keep this secret. Prefects coming up on the adjacent staircase"

Dewey, to his right yanked Teddy's shoulder and the three raced up a swinging staircase towards the sixth floor.

"And somehow," Teddy said, breathing heavily from the running. "we lucked out on timing."

"They're up there?" Kai asked looking in the direction of the blank wall up ahead where the room of requirement should be.

"Hiding in a nearby broom closet," Teddy muttered.

"I hope we won't be disturbing anything," Dewey said.

"Well, that would be odd, considering Leonard and Kaitlin brought James and Clippy along with them," Teddy replied. "Although I suppose stranger things have happened in Hogwarts broom closets."

They laughed at this and when they opened the broom closet door to find the four first years all perched awkwardly around the tiny room, they laughed harder. The first years glared at them but followed them anyway as they made their way to the Room of Requirement.

"I don't suppose any of you know how to open this room?" Teddy asked the younger students.

Leonard and James looked at one another in amazement. "What?" Leonard asked. "I thought you used this room all last year?"

James seemed indignant. "You're telling me you don't know how to open the door?"

Teddy ignored them and paced back and forth three times while concentrating on an extremely tall room with a forgivingly soft floor. He opened the door that appeared at the wall and motioned for everyone to go inside. "I just was wondering if you guys listen or not."

He entered the room, and like the others, immediately looked up. The room had grown vaster than he had ever seen it before- it was the size of the Quidditch pitch and as tall as the great hall.

"Merlin," Dewey whispered.

Soon everyone was whooping, shooting sparks into the air, and high fiving one another. James and Leonard had hopped on their brooms right away and promptly flew right into each other a foot over Clippy's head. The three boys all collapsed into a heap on the springy, mattress-like floor.

"This will be perfect!" Leonard said.

Teddy wasn't sure if he heard the first year correctly. "Will be?" he asked him.

Leonard nodded, a broad grin crossing his face. "For the competition."

"Competition for you guys," James said. He was already back on his broom and circling overhead. "I've got about the same odds of winning it as this guy does at being Winterlude King."

Teddy shook his head. "I don't think I'm even eligible for king. And I'm not sure if I'm even going to go."

James, who was hovering above them, had put his arms out to his side and was balancing carefully on his feet as the broom rose and fell ever so slightly. He rolled his eyes at Teddy's comment. "Fine, not King, but you'll win Prince- and I'll win the competition."

Leonard nodded, "That sounds like a date then." He ignored the quizzical looks of everyone nearby and instead took a running jump in the direction of James and his broom. He was able to grab the handle and pull it down slightly causing James once again to topple to the floor.

"You seem like a lock," Leonard said to his Hufflepuff friend before James jumped to his feet and started chasing him around the room. Eventually the others grew bored of watching them and instead got on their brooms to fly around for the first time that year. It was proof, Teddy would admit, that not every one of Kai's ideas were so foolish after all.


	15. Chapter 15 Winterlude

**Chapter 15: Winterlude**

Since Teddy didn't get a chance to speak to Chloe over break (and since he had no idea how one goes about inviting non-magical teenagers over to the castle anyway) he realized that he needed to ask someone else.

"You haven't asked anyone yet? That dance is less than a week away!" Albert said to him, as they were all dressing and getting ready for breakfast.

"Have you?" Teddy asked him.

Albert grinned- "I'm taking Mercy- he's taking Sung-hee (he said pointing at Albus), and this guy (he said pointing at Colin) is holding out the delusional hope that Sophia will somehow ditch her date and spend the evening with him."

Colin was spritzing himself with his particularly powerful cologne at the moment. His hands clenched down on the bottle a bit causing a much heftier amount of the spray to coat him.

"Oi-" he said, ignoring the guys next to him who were waving the smell away and sputtering. "I never said she was going to spend the evening with me. I just said I might ask her for one dance."

"Good luck with that," Albert said with a grin.

Teddy grinned too and then followed the other guys down towards the great hall for breakfast. Outside their house portal, they found themselves walking right behind their house prefects.

"Any interesting plans for the ball Lupin?" Vin asked him. "Going to try and glue yourself upside down on the Great Hall ceiling?"

Teddy laughed along with the other guys in his house. It must be pretty wild to attach oneself to the enchanted ceiling of the hall. Not just because it was hundreds of feet from the floor but also because it would seem like one was attaching itself to the sky itself.

"Have you two been to a Hogwart's ball before?" Teddy asked them.

Vin and Sarah both colored a bit at the question.

"Sorry- not together- I meant have either of you been to a ball before?" Teddy said after he realized what they were inferring.

Vin and Sarah glanced at one another and laughed a bit. "Yeah, I've been to a dance" Vin said and she nodded as well.

"Well does everyone in the castle start dressing nicely during the weeks before?" Teddy asked. He had noticed over the past few weeks the increased presence of dress robes, dress shoes, carefully styled hair, jewelry and the like on much of the student body. Even now, as they entered the great hall he noticed small pockets of every house table looking quite put together.

Vin shook his head. "Not really. A lot of people went a little mad the night of the dance, but that's witches for you."

Sarah rolled her eyes at this. "Yes, the _boys_ didn't spend hours fixing their hair in their bathroom mirror that evening..."

Teddy chuckled at this, noticing that even now a few of the wizards (in the packets of smartly dressed students) were running their hands through their hair.

"It's different this year because Madame's going to be there and that means they will probably have someone from the prophet and Modern Witch's and maybe even some foreign papers covering the evening," she said.

Teddy goggled at this. "For a school dance!"

Vin nodded, "and heads up- anyone who wins prince or princess of their class will be taking a lot of pictures. You're a metamorphmagus though, I'm sure you will come up with a photo worthy look."

This time Teddy didn't join Vin or the others in laughter. He needed to find a date or he might be in the society pages stag- something Harry and Ron wouldn't let him forget for a long, long time.

* * *

It was strange, Teddy and his friends only had their "practical map" (as they were referring to their recently devised map) functioning for a few days now and yet he was wondering just how he made it around Hogwarts without it these past two years. For one thing, the Ravenclaw girls had charmed the map so that any area a person went (be it a classroom Teddy had never thought to visit before or a secret passage that no one in the group was familiar with) would now be represented. Teddy, Kai, and Dewey had a dozen or so places like this that they were keen to explore on future evenings.

But the more useful thing that this map granted was that they now had the power to locate any person in the castle- something Teddy was desperate to do as every hour went by and he was without a date. His idea was simple, find Dewey or any of the Ravenclaw girls that they hung out with- and arrange it so that the six of them (assuming Kai didn't have a date) would all go together. He was in the library, searching the practical map for any of these people when two of them appeared behind him.

"Stalking someone?" Dewey asked him in a bright tone. He was standing quite close to Eloise, each of them wearing an expression that suggested they knew something he did not.

"How did you two do that?" Teddy asked them. He glanced down at the map and although he saw a dot with his name, their own dots were absent.

"Well that proves it," Eloise said. She murmured the original revealer spell on Dewey and herself and they once again showed up on the map. "I figured that if we knew the incantation to reveal the blood identifying spell then we should also be able to perform a disillusion spell to hide it."

Teddy frowned. "That's just one more potential shortcoming of this though."

"Yeah well the only way around that is through actual protean charms and those require more charm's work than any of the girls or us could figure out," Dewey replied. "And anyway, we knew going in with this plan that the only way we can guarantee it working is if it remains a secret. This doesn't change that one way or the other."

Eloise gave Dewey a very approving look.

"I suppose," Teddy responded. He rolled the map up and placed it in the bag. "I'm glad you two are here though- I was actually looking for you," he said to Eloise.

She and Dewey took the seats across from Teddy to listen.

"Does Hannah or Mary have a date for Winterlude?"

Eloise narrowed her eyes. "If you're looking to ask them then you're too late. They're going with a couple of guys in our house."

Teddy's face fell. "Oh... That's too bad. I thought we could all go together."

"That would have been fun- you guys just take too long to ask people though. This one didn't get around to it until just a few minutes ago."

"Congrats," Teddy said to Dewey who was coloring just a bit.

"Anyway I'm sure you will find someone- and I gather you aren't planning on staying very long anyway."

Teddy leaned in a bit and whispered, "Are you guys coming to the flying park then afterward?"

She nodded. "Dewey tells me that there's a good chance one of those moronic punkers are going to fall to their doom and it would be a nice thing if someone there knew a spell or two to cushion a fall."

* * *

Ultimately, Teddy needn't have worried about finding a date to the dance. He was leaving a Herbology lecture when Julie popped up next to him. "Hey, I haven't seen you at the Ball Committee meetings." Julie was one of the few Gryffindor girls in their class who was putting more and more effort into her attire in the weeks leading up to the dance. For whatever reason, this annoyed Teddy less than with Nagaeena or some of the more self-important Ball Committee people.

"It wasn't really my thing," Teddy replied.

Julie nodded. "You were the only one from our house though... of our year at least."

Teddy felt a twinge of guilt at abandoning her at the meetings but also felt silly for this as he hadn't gone there for her in the first place. Also, why Julie felt like she needed to be there when she obviously resented the Slytherin girls of their year was beyond him.

"So are you looking forward to the dance then?" Teddy asked her.

She nodded. "Oh definitely- although I haven't found anyone to go with yet."

Teddy smiled. "Would you like to go with me?"

"Really?" Julie asked, her cheeks reddening a bit. "I thought you already had a date."

"Nope," Teddy replied. "Does that mean you would go with me?"

Julie nodded. "Wow, that's a relief." Her shoulders (her whole body really) sagged a bit, as if something inside her had loosened considerably. She had the same unguarded smile on her face that she had shown Teddy a few weeks ago before the first Ball Committee meeting and he found it made him smile quite stupidly back at her.

"What's the relief? That you found a date for the ball?" Teddy asked as the two made their way to the Great Hall.

She shook her head. "Not really- although that is nice. I just was under the impression that you kinda disliked me. Every time I've talked to you this year you've kind of seemed mad that I've done so."

Teddy frowned at her. "Well I wasn't mad- you just caught me off-guard a few times about Chloe and since she's been gone I haven't really liked talking to people about her."

Julie nodded. "I figured- I just had been writing to her myself and I was wondering if you were still close to her. I thought you would know if she was being weird or not."

"Weird?" Teddy asked.

"Yeah," Julie replied hesitantly. "I mean since I started writing letters to her over the summer she's seemed to have changed a bit and I wasn't sure if there was anything to worry about."

"Why would you worry about it?" Teddy replied- remembering once again how talking to Julie about Chloe made him squirm.

She seemed to sense this. Instead she pointed at a group of people near the Great Hall entrance. There were eight or nine boys, yelling and pushing one another. Teddy noticed that a couple of the older students wore their robes in the same manner Kaitlin did these days- with the sleeves cut to the elbow and a different colored sleeve running to their wrist. Their hair was longer and even shaggier than the Punkers and even at a distance he could make out small patches adorning the robes. Strangely, the wizards that they were pushing and yelling against were among the coiffed, formal wear crowd.

"We should go," Julie said, pulling Teddy's arm.

Part of him was very interested in seeing what would happen with the older students, but he allowed Julie to pull him in the direction of the Great Hall. He would find out what happened later, he was sure of it, as Kaitlin, or Clippy, or one of the Punkers would undoubtedly be itching to explain whatever had happened.

* * *

It didn't take long for Teddy's prediction to come true. He was working on his dessert when Kaitlin, Clippy, and a gaggle of Punkers accosted him.

"There you are," Kaitlin said. "We've been looking all over- what are you doing over here anyway?" She was looking over at Julie and her second and third year Gryffindor girlfriends with a confused look.

"Well you found me, so what's up?" Teddy replied.

"Did you see the fight?" James asked.

Leonard used his elbows to position himself in front of James . "You missed a crazy fight," he said.

"Some Slytherin wags were messing with Clarence and Davey," James said

Teddy looked over at Clippy in confusion.

"Fifth years from Hufflepuff," he replied. There was a small purplish bruise to the left of his eye that looked like it would require some makeup before the upcoming dance. Taking a closer look at the four of them, it seemed they all had various degrees of cuts and bruises.

"So, what? Did you guys block their curses with your face?" Teddy asked.

The boys thought this was amusing but Kaitlin seemed for the first time to notice the marks on everyone else. "Crap," she said before glancing quickly over at the head table where the professors seemed to be completely ignoring them (once again Teddy noticed that Seavelle was skipping dinner this evening, which appeared to be more common among the staff in general this year).

Kaitlin grabbed the sides of Clippy's face in the same way an owner might check over his dog. "We need to get this fixed- I'm sure the heads will be having a talk in the common room tonight," she said.

Julie and April, who had been whispering to one another, each got up. April told the four first years to follow them, and Julie pulled Teddy along with them. Once they were out of the Great Hall Julie cast a spell with her wand (Teddy hadn't heard what she had spoken) where a softer and wider light emitted from her wand then what would normally occur with the lumos spell.

"Alright, get in a straight line and April will do this quickly," she said.

The first year boys looked at each in confusion but Kaitlin straightened her shoulders and looked calmly in front of her while Julie worked on applying all the beauty charms and glamours that she knew to correct her face.

When the girls had fixed the group they turned to leave, but Teddy cleared his throat loudly.

"Aren't you two going to fix my face as well?"

April let out a little scream, and Julie, recovering from her slight shock, punched Teddy on his shoulder. He wished he had a mirror so he could see the extent of his bruises, scars, and general disfigurement that he managed to add-on when no one was looking.

"You have to wear that to the dance," Kaitlin told him.

Teddy glanced at Julie, but the look on her own face quite clearly suggested that some of those marks would actually happen if he tried something like that.

* * *

"What's your hurry Lupin? You literally need thirty seconds in front of the mirror to make yourself look the way you want," Alfred said. Although somewhat true, Teddy didn't enjoy being rushed out of the bathroom any more than the next person. Plus being a metamorphmagus didn't really have anything to do with brushing one's teeth or straightening one's tie. He considered saying this to his dorm mate but realized that Alfred was barely listening anyway. Like the rest of the boys in the crowded Gryffindor washroom, he was staring intently at his reflection as if this time it would look exactly how he wanted it to.

"And done," Teddy replied, after parting his hair cleanly down the left side of his forehead. He didn't often pay much attention to his hair but a family friend (and former Hogwarts Head of House) had once told him that his father had styled his own hair that way.

Kai was already waiting for Teddy down in the common room. His face torn between nerves and excitement (Teddy supposed this was as much for the dance as for their broom competition afterward). Julie and April (who Kai had recently asked to the ball) had flat out told Teddy that they wouldn't be ready until 8:00 P.M.

"The dance is at 8:00 P.M. though," Teddy had said. "And you have all afternoon to get ready for it."

The two girls looked at him in amusement but didn't reply to this.

"So who is Violet going with?" Kai asked while the two waited near the fire.

"Who knows?" Teddy replied.

Kai said something under his breath but did not repeat it when Teddy looked at him inquisitively. He suspected his friend was thinking of asking Violet to the dance (although how that was supposed to work out was beyond him) but they had heard a few days ago that everyone in Slytherin already had a date.

"So what are we supposed to tell our dates when we leave the dance early?" Kai asked.

Teddy hadn't thought of that but it probably wouldn't be that big of a deal. As long as they ate dinner and danced a few times, who cared if they cut the evening a bit short? This train of thought was effectively derailed though when they noticed Julie and April making their way down the stairs. The two girls looked like the women in Chloe's Muggle fashion magazines. They wore matching scarlet dresses, Julie's strangely having the effect of making her blue eyes ever more striking.

"Crap," Kai said quietly to Teddy.

He nodded.

* * *

Teddy would have guessed from the obsessive attention that the Ball Committee members had put into their planning that the event would be stunning. He was not disappointed. Outside the Great Hall, a chamber orchestra (which included all four of Seavelle's house elves as the violin section) played quietly while students and professors alike mingled. At a table near the doors, a number of students on the Ball Sub-Committee were signing people in. Couples were instructed to pause near an ice structure that seemed to be a perfect mini-representation of Hogwarts. Cameras had been enchanted to fly around anonymously and photograph the attendees when they were at their least self-conscious moment.

"And they wanted to bring in peacocks to mill around the ice statue, you know for the absurdity of it all- but apparently those birds belong outdoors as they make more of a mess than the owls do," Julie said quite quickly and without apparently needing to breath. She had a bit of insider's knowledge of the event and was happy to point things out.

"Apparently the spell to make the camera's photograph people at their most unrehearsed moment has this simple reversal and you can trick them to find people at their most embarrassing," she continued as a few cameras around Teddy and her clicked.

"What are they doing with all the photos?" Teddy asked.

"Well, we get pictures of ourselves of course," Julie said, grabbing Teddy's arm and leading him towards the dance. Behind them he thought he heard April telling Kai, "they won't photograph us unless you stop trying to pose."

"…And the rest are going into a compilation book that the Ball Committee is putting together. With pictures of people dancing and the court, of course."

They passed through the main doors but instead of the wide open sweep of the great hall, they were under an enclosure of sorts. Its white wicker walls were covered in ivy and lit up by hundreds of tea candles.

"The idea was to have students have some sort of walkway through the school's gardens, but when we were planning this, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to go outside yet. So we thought we could make the perimeter of the dance into one giant walkway."

She smiled at him and once again he found himself grinning stupidly back at her.

"So..." she said as they exited the walkway and stepped onto the Great Hall floor. "What do you think?"

Hundreds of people covered the dance floor (it seemed far more crowded than the hall normally did at meals- and this was despite the fact that the massive tables and benches had been cleared from the room). Everything was softly lit from a dozen chandeliers that bobbed lazily in the air over them. A small, boisterous band played from the stage where the professors normally sat.

"You guys outdid yourselves," Teddy said. "I almost wish I hadn't quit the committee."

She laughed. "Really?"

"Well," he thought about it. "No- not at all. But everything looks really great tonight."

She smiled at this and he noticed that she seemed to be wearing some of the Muggle type makeup that Chloe wore. She looked very pretty and he told her so.

"Thanks," she replied, blushing furiously as she covered part of her face with her hands.

"Don't mention it," he said. "Hey- I didn't really think about this before, but there is this thing Kai and I are going to after the dance... I was planning on leaving a little early, maybe you and April want to come along too?"

"What thing?" she started to ask, but at that moment the band on stage had stopped playing music and Ursula, Nagaeena and a very pretty witch that Teddy did not recognize were taking center stage.

"Welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts 1st Winter ball in seventeen years," Ursula said, her voice magnified to reach the entire room. "The Ball Committee would like to thank the professors, house elves, and assorted members of England's magical community for their work in preparing for tonight- but in particular we feel indebted to the support of Madame Seavelle."

There was a booming response for this across the Great Hall.

"She certainly looks beautiful this evening," Julie said quietly to Teddy.

It took him a moment to realize that the person she was pointing at onstage was Madame. She seemed a far cry from the absorbed academic that he saw at Potions each week. The woman on stage appeared to be the type of glowing, outer-worldly-type that grant wishes and haunts towns in fairy tales.

"Do you want to get some punch while they talk up there?" he asked.

Julie shook her head. "Oh no- I think they're going to announce the court."

"Right," he said, looking around for his other friends. "Well I'm going to get us some drinks- I'll try to get back when the music starts."

She gave him an exasperated look but nodded and he was relieved when he noticed April and a few other Gryffindor girls making their way over to listen to the announcements.

* * *

"Guess what," a voice said behind Teddy as he waited for his drinks.

"Hi Violet," he said before turning. His cousin had a small smile on her face.

"I didn't make the court," she said. He was surprised to notice that this didn't appear to bother her at all. If anything she sounded happy about it.

"Er... that's good I take it?" he said.

She nodded, "I was worried for a while that it might happen. Everyone was getting sick of the likely winners and I thought in the fallout I might get slotted in there."

Her eyes traveled over Nagaeena who was still on stage and then back to him.

"Well you dodged a bludger then," Teddy said while clapping her on the shoulder once in support.

"I did... But guess who didn't?" she asked with glee.

He sighed. "I hope you are going to say Kai."

She started to laugh at this, but to both of their surprise, Kai appeared at their side.

"Did someone just say my name?" he asked.

Teddy shook his head, "sometimes I think you can apparate."

"Gryffindors..." Kai muttered. He turned his attention to Violet. "So... we've both been wondering who you went to the dance with. Dewey thought Steven and Teddy agrees, but I think you two have been fighting."

Violet pulled both of them out of the line and over to a nearby empty table. Her eyes narrowed at Kai and she spoke in a low, annoyed tone. "As much as I appreciate you guys wondering about who I would attend this dance with, please do not broadcast your thoughts to the entire hall."

Teddy tried to indicate with his eyes for Kai to drop the subject but his friend didn't notice him. "I can't understand why you care so much about other people hearing anything about you Violet. It's like every time we talk you are trying to prevent us from saying anything that your roommates might overhear."

"Well Kai, some of us have the sense not to say whatever's on our mind at any given moment."

Teddy cleared his throat, hoping to bring the two back to the drink line and out of their current row. Kai and Violet didn't seem to hear this though. Kai had his arms out in frustration as he struggled to keep his own voice low.

"Because what Violet? Because if we say the wrong thing then Nagaeena and Decima won't talk to us?"

"I don't give a whit about what either of those two think," she responded. "But there are people in this castle that I do care about."

"Like who?" Kai shot back. "Like Madame? Because you certainly seem like one of her dedicated fans."

Teddy poked him in the shoulder. "Stop- this isn't what you wanted to talk about in the first place. You wanted to know who her date was, remember?"

"You're right Kai," Violet replied, her voice just above a whisper. "It means a lot to me that Madame invites me to her dinners and asks me to help on her subcommittee. Guess what, she's picked out the people that she thinks are not only smart, but that have common sense."

"Right," Kai said as he rolled his eyes. "Because Teddy is the model of common sense," he glanced apologetically at Teddy. "No offense mate."

"Dewey is there too," Violet said.

Kai looked over at Teddy once again, and it was clear from the look on his face that this was new information. For a moment he looked hurt but he glared back at Violet.

"Well I'm sure your dinners are really special, but guess what, Dr. Babbit doesn't seem all that impressed with Madame's work, and if you ask me, he's the most interesting teacher here."

Violet rolled her eyes at this. "Great- so you're a punker now?"

"What?" Teddy asked, genuinely confused by the turn in the conversation.

"Yeah Violet, everyone who doesn't worship Madame Seavelle is a punker. I wanted to talk to you because we haven't in a while- you don't have to worry about it happening again in the near future."

He started to walk away but turned when he noticed Teddy wasn't following him. "You coming?" he yelled back at him.

Teddy turned to Violet, but she was already stalking off in the opposite direction. Sighing he turned and ran over to Kai.

"Prat," he said to him. When Kai started to angrily respond, Teddy cut him off. "No- you were a huge prat back there and so was she."

Kai glared at him but didn't say anything back.

"We need to dance with our dates a few times before the competition later tonight. Do you think you can handle that without making April run off too?"

Kai didn't answer him, but instead made his way over to the Gryffindor girls.

"Second Years on the Winterlude court, Decima and Teddy Lupin," Ursula's voice said over the loudspeaker. "Anyone seeing either of them, please send them over to the back table for pictures."

* * *

In the end, being on court wasn't that bad. Julie seemed thrilled that she got to dance the third "official" dance of the night (the first being between the king and queen, seventh year Slytherin prefects; the second being between the members of the court; the third being between the court and their first choice). All of Teddy's friends clapped him hard on the back and shouted congratulations to him. Unlike the bitter looks that many of the witches in particular were giving to Decima, no one seemed fazed by him being prince of their year. And the benefit of being on the court was that they were all expected to sit together at the front table. Teddy wouldn't have to speak to Kai or Violet until the dance was over.

"So what exactly are we skiving off this ball for?" Julie whispered to Teddy as they took their seats at the front table.

Teddy motioned to the mostly Slytherin court sitting on either side of them and then lowered his voice to a whisper. "I can't tell you here. If you are interested we are going to the room that the DA met last year for an after party of sorts."

* * *

Sneaking around Hogwarts on a normal evening was fun, but sneaking around in formal clothes when the rest of the castle was attending a ball was clearly the preferable experience. Julie and April carried their high heels in their hands as they ran along Kai and Teddy down the seventh floor. All four of them were giggling, Kai especially. He no longer seemed to be in a funk from his encounter with Violet.

"Uhm Teddy, why are we stopping at a broom closet?" Julie asked.

April crossed her arms. "Just what did you two think was going to happen?"

The door opened, and a laughing Kaitlin (along with half a dozen first year students from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor) indicated for the four of them to cram in.

"What is going on?" Julie asked Teddy.

Before he had a chance to respond though, he noticed a few people making their way down the hall to them.

Dewey, flanked by the Ravenclaw girls and their dates, hurried over.

"We gotta find some more broom closets," he told Teddy.

* * *

"I've been thinking about this," Kai said, as he, Teddy, and Dewey stood at the base of the Room of Requirements and watched the dozen or so people fly far above them.

"There are two ways to have a contest. One, we give everyone a minute or so to do whatever type of flying they want and then give them a score for it; or two, we let them play Squib."

"Squib?" Dewey asked?

Kai nodded, a wide grin on his face. "One person does a maneuver, if the next can't complete it, then they get a 'S' then a 'Q' then a 'U'-"

"Let's do that," Teddy said cutting him off.

While everyone participating readily agreed on these rules it quickly became clear that this system weeded the not-so-great flyers out quickly. Clippy couldn't (or perhaps wouldn't) do three rapid barrel rolls in a row. He was the first to reach SQUIB, but he didn't seem to mind sitting in the risers that the room had helpfully supplied for the outing. He, Julie, and April seemed to enjoy the faces the flyers made when they were upside down.

"I've got a shield over us in case anyone rolfs," Kai helpfully told the riser group.

The two Ravenclaw flyers (Martin and John) were out next, neither able to suddenly whip from a high speed backwards trajectory into an even faster frontwards one.

Eden and Jeremy (two of the more reticent Hufflepuff Punkers) and Marcus (who Teddy had met on his train trip a few weeks ago) would not hang from the bristles of their brooms while shooting straight up in the air, thus making their SQUIB.

"Can they use the _amalgamara _ spell?" Dewey whispered to Teddy.

Teddy shrugged. "They probably could."

Kai shook his head, "No way, the only reason people are dropping out is because they are afraid of falling off their brooms."

"Can you watch how you're phrasing things?" Eloise said from the other side of Dewey.

Kai gulped. "Merlin, yeah, sorry about that. But still- no sticking charms."

It was poor timing, as Kaitlin, who was attempting to stand up on her broom as she leveled out of her dive, had evidently leaned too far back, her feet giving way underneath her like a person might after slipping on a banana peel. Her arms waved desperately outwards into the air but their was nothing for her to grab onto and she fell flat on her back.

Teddy and the rest of the kids in the rafters ran over to her immediately.

"Kaitlin," he called out. "Are you OK?"

She didn't respond at first, her eyes were closed and she appeared to be gulping in quick breaths.

Leonard and James, the last two people in the competition, flew down nearby and hurried over. Leonard, looked and Teddy and Clippy with wide eyes. "Should we get a healer?"

"It's alright," she whispered. "Just got the wind knocked out of me."

"You fell twenty feet at least," Julie said to her.

"Wicked" Kaitlin said with a grin to Teddy and Clippy, which neither returned.

"It felt like the ground swallowed me a bit," she said, her hands patting the nearby floor. "So that's a relief for the next time I fall."

"Too bad though," Leonard said, the color having returned to his face. "You're the most recent SQUIB."

"True," James said, before mounting his broom and slowly heading back up. "But don't worry Leonard, you will be too, shortly."

Teddy didn't need Dewey or Julie quietly asking whether it was wise to let this go on. He wondered this himself, knowing full well that he, Kai, and Dewey would take the blunt of the blame if anyone got hurt. At the same time though, he had the feeling that the two Punkers would be hard pressed to pull out of the competition at this point. With good reason, considering James and Leonard seemed to have just been warming up throughout the night.

Leonard shocked the group by flying all the way up to the ceiling, flipping upside down and running a few feet along it before letting gravity pull him in an upside down dive. James responded to this by not only copying his maneuver but by continuing his dive towards the opposite wall where he took great, unnatural strides down the wall before zooming away.

"This is better than Quidditch," Kai said.

Teddy grinned, as he considered what Colin would say to that comment.

Leonard stood up on his broom (pausing just a bit, it seemed to Teddy at least, to make sure he didn't fall backwards like Kaitlin) and flew near the top of the rafters where he slid perpendicular across the top railing.

"See, that looks like something I can do," Clippy said to the people nearby.

James seemed to agree that Leonard's trick was simple because instead of merely sliding his broom along the rail, when he neared the edge of the riser he jumped clean off the broom. Before he cleared it though, he caught the handle of the broom with both hands. Then like a person hanging from a Muggle pull up bar, floated over to a stunned Leonard.

"_That_... was the trick I wouldn't tell you about," James said.

Leonard scowled at him but flew back to the rail and managed to repeat the same trick.

"Well..." Dewey said, "It looks like we have a tie."

James shook his head. "I've got one more trick." Without waiting for a response he flew once again to just under the ceiling. He circled slowly, like an owl might while watching the ground below, and then suddenly he started to dive, although it was different than any dive they had witnessed before, as his broom shot out between his legs in one direction, and then he started a broomless dive the other way.

Everyone on the ground began shouting. Teddy grabbed his wand and pointed it above him but as he did so, he realized he had no idea how to slow a falling person. The Ravenclaw girls all had their own wands pointed, but were all engaged in a very clipped and panicked debate of the correct spell to use.

James had his hands together above his head so that between his arms, his body, and his legs he looked like a human arrow. He had positioned himself so that he was zooming towards the falling broomstick but he was out of reach and falling incredibly fast.

The girls cast something but it didn't seem to have any effect as both James and the broomstick plummeted towards the floor.

Suddenly, the strangest thing happened. The broom, which was still a few feet out of reach, seemed to turn itself around in a 180 degree arc. It slid under James body and just as quickly as he was falling, he was pulling up with all his might. He managed to get his face, his chest, the top of the broomstick and his knees up before the tail of the broom smacked against the ground, where he tumbled into a great heap.

"My word," said a voice behind Teddy.

He turned and nearly shouted out loud. For just a moment he thought he had seen the form of Dr. Babbit. Just a moment though...


	16. Chapter 16 The Debate

**Chapter 16: The Debate**

Teddy ran over to his school bag that he had stashed underneath the bleachers. Making sure that he was out of eye sight, he pulled the map open and frantically sought out the Room of Requirements. "Where are you?" he whispered as he ran his finger back and forth along the part of the castle they were in. Then it hit him, the Room of Requirements is unplottable and therefore of course it wouldn't be on the map. He shook the piece of paper in frustration.

"Teddy?" Julie called from behind him.

He rolled the map up and placed it in his pocket before turning to her.

"Everything ok?" she asked him.

He nodded and gave what he hoped was an innocent smile. "I just remembered something for a letter and wanted to include it before I forgot again."

She looked in the direction of his pocket and then back at him like she wanted to ask a question but seemed to decide against whatever important thing she might ask. Instead she motioned towards the group behind them. "Are you coming?"

"Yep," he replied. "Did you happen to hear someone say, 'My word' when James was falling?"

Julie shrugged. "I wasn't really paying attention."

Teddy nodded. She had been closest to what he had seen. That is, considering he actually had seen something (and that he wasn't going crazy), whatever that something was- she was his best hope for confirming it. He made a mental note to check with Kai, Dewey, and the Ravenclaw girls as soon as he could. Back in the group of people, still clapping and cheering and shaking their heads in exasperation at one another, he smiled wearily at his friends. When he thought no one was paying attention, he slowly scanned each corner of the room, trying to find a misplaced color, a stir or activity, a strange shadow- anything to indicate that a disillusioned or invisibility-cloaked figure might be present. He didn't find anyone, but he never lost the feeling that someone was staring directly back at him.

* * *

The group could not venture back into the Room of Requirements right away. The Punkers and (surprisingly) Julie and April were all eager to make it back there, but a frustrating recent incident had made any secretive movement around the castle nearly impossible.

**Failed Hogwarts Breach- Goblins Once Again Suspected **read the headline in the paper, although from the way everyone talked about it, it should have read, **Moronic Goblins Once Again Fail to Get Even Incrementally Closer to School** with the related article headlines **School Administration to Completely Overreact to It **and **Mere Mention of Lost Quidditch Season Sends Students into Frenzy.**

Strangely, this time there were no bodies found near the breach point. The previous time, three Goblins were found frozen in place. Apparently, they thought if they tunneled far enough below the perimeter that they could bypass the orange wards but this of course wasn't the case.

The wizarding world believed that the sieging party was Goblins once again because whoever had tried to break in had again dug an enormous hole beneath the border (this one far deeper than the previous one). What Wizard would even want to move that much dirt- much less be able to?

"They must be getting desperate," Clippy remarked to Teddy as they were eating breakfast and discussing the article.

"Why do you say that?" Teddy asked.

"Well they know how difficult it is to get in here and they still go after it? Why? Probably because the only way they can actually fight us is by doing what they did last year and taking children hostage."

Teddy glanced at the staff table where the professors were each absorbed in reading the paper. There was an uneasy sort of quiet within the Great Hall, a sort of tension filled silence, made all the more apparent by the rustling of newspaper sheets and the occasional cough or sneeze of the school body.

This silence was halted though by the sudden squeal coming from the Slytherin table. Teddy (and what felt like the rest of the hall) swung his head to the side to find out the source of the commotion. Several of the girls at the table were gathered around someone there, pointing at something on the table and talking, quite un-Slytherin-like in barely contained delight.

Teddy noticed Violet amongst the girls. She seemed as enraptured as anyone else over there, talking quite rapidly with the girls next to her. He glanced over to Ravenclaw and saw that Kai was rolling his eyes. Dewey, and his increasingly uniform Punker house, was not paying them any attention.

He got Julie and April's attention and asked them if they knew what was going on at the Slytherin table.

Julie shook her head. "I bet it has something to do with Madame though."

April nodded, "Maybe she picked her heiress."

The two girls traded a look and laughed at this, leaving Teddy confused.

* * *

Teddy didn't find out what the girls were talking excitedly about but it was on his mind when he met Violet at Potions later that day. Ever since the dance, Violet and Stephen were strangely polite and distant with one another. Their table was much quieter these days, with little discussion more than what was required for Potions. Teddy supposed that this might trouble his cousin but it seemed quite the opposite. She was in great spirits when he sat down next to her that day.

"Should I address you as your highness or will Prince Theodore suffice?" she asked him in lieu of a hello.

She was not the first person to offer this sort of remark to him since the dance but was the first to use his full first name. It was a nice touch.

"Your highness is good," he said.

"Naturally," she offered with a smile. "How did the rest of your dance go?"

Teddy gave a short account of his dance. She wanted to hear about Julie and April's dresses and what the people at the head table were wearing (although he could barely remember what Julie was wearing much less anyone else). He was explaining how April and Kai had snuck a spot at the head table when Violet's expression grew cold.

"I'm glad your group had fun." She said before turning her attention to the directions on the board.

"Violet," Teddy began. "He doesn't enjoy fighting with you. He just has the habit of saying the wrong thing whenever he speaks."

"You don't need to fight his battles," she replied.

"I'm not," Teddy started but she glanced over at him to cut him off.

"Or to always be the peacemaker. Just let it be."

Teddy sighed but didn't pursue the topic as he hadn't expected a much different response. In truth he had somewhat gotten used to Kai and Violet fighting. It was just as easy to plan things that the other would not be at. Evenings were spent either with Violet and sometimes Stephen and/or Dewey in the library, or with Kai, Dewey, and the Ravenclaws in the Inter-house Common Room. It seemed strange at first but the smaller groups of people actually helped his studying as he was getting higher marks in his classes this year.

It helped perhaps that he had such solid relationships with the new professors this year. Professor Curr continued to push him in Transfiguration, believing completely that his metamorphmagus abilities made him extra-skilled at that type of magic. Madame didn't speak to him directly (although she didn't really speak to anyone directly) but his invites to her infrequent dinner parties continued to arrive, and his Potions table continued to excel in class.

The only new professor who hadn't seemed to take an especial shine to him was Dr. Babbit. He wasn't his student per se but he, Dewey, Kai had continued to attend his weekly Science Club meetings, which felt exactly like any other class- with the one welcome difference of not having any homework. It wasn't that Dr. Babbit disliked him or ignored him, but he didn't make any effort to connect with Teddy or anyone else really. This seemed perfectly fine with everyone else in the club- the Ravenclaws seeming not to care one way or the other about how the Professor acted, but rather were enthralled with what he said. The Hufflepuff's, who it seemed most of the house was now attending the weekly meetings, were the only ones that seemed to have an easy relationship with the professor. The sixth and seventh years (who now dressed even punkier than the punkers-one of the students even removing the sleeves of his robes all the way up to his shoulder) took up the tables nearest Babbit. They would banter back and forth with him, trying to get him to laugh, sometimes succeeding, mostly just getting him to rebuke them with good humor.

Teddy was at the Science Club meeting one evening, packing up his supplies and half-listening to the older Hufflepuffs and Dr .Babbit exchange when Guy Thomas interrupted the conversation. "Professor, I forgot to give this back to you."

He handed a roll of parchment to Babbit who glanced down at it, frowned, and then tucked it away. Guy was leaving before he turned around. "Professor…"

Babbit seemed to be expecting whatever he was going to ask because he held up his hand to stop him.

"Yes I've heard what Madame had to say about this paper explaining Gamp's Law. She and some of the faculty were discussing it at lunch the other day."

"So she does eat meals then?" said the sleeveless sixth year Hufflepuff.

Babbit did chuckle at this but he turned his attention back to Guy who obviously seemed to be a conduit of sorts in this on-going disagreement between Babbit and Madame.

"Look Guy, I know whatever book or paper I give you will be met by a book or paper that she will have on this. These type of discussions rarely resolve themselves through that sort of tit for tat. What we need is a conversation."

Guy nodded eagerly. "A debate."

Before Babbit could respond to this, a seventh year Hufflepuff laughed and then said, "more like a trouncing."

"If we could swat students, Pierce, you would feel very sorry indeed that you invoked trouncing within my arms reach."

"I wonder if all American teachers are like that," Dewey whispered to Teddy and Kai. The three laughed as Babbit did swat the scroll he was reading against Pierce's head.

* * *

At breakfast the following morning, students at every table were deep in argument.

"Gold is Gold- it can't be made on its own. That's why everyone wants it," Albert said.

"Everyone wants it because it's strong and has magical properties that are useful," Suchin said. It was the first time Teddy had seen the first year and his dorm mate say anything to one another. Other Gryffindors sitting nearby must have also noticed this as they were silently following along.

"Yeah, and because it's shiny and rare," he said, stressing the last word.

"The magic we crave is always at its limits," Suchin said a bit timidly. "Wizards who accept standard explanations will never advance magic."

"Yes," sighed Albert. "We've all heard Professor Seavelle's opening lecture. It doesn't change anything."

"She told Teddy about the Philosopher's Stone didn't she?" Kaitlin said pointing at Teddy.

Clippy smiled sheepishly at Teddy, confirming that he had told Kaitlin about that dinner party conversation. Teddy glanced over at the head table to see that Madame as usual was not eating with the rest of the staff.

"She mentioned it yes," he replied.

"She said your Godfather found the stone that made gold," Kaitlin said.

"Yeah, he found a stone, but no one's seen it change lead into gold," said Albert.

"He was 250 years old- why would he make up the other use for the stone?" Suchin stubbornly replied.

"I don't know, but there is no record of him creating gold," said Albert.

"What do you think Teddy?" Clippy asked, stopping the two boys from going back and forth again.

He considered the arguments for a bit. "I think that the stone probably could make money, but it probably wouldn't last long."

This answer didn't satisfy anyone around the table and their annoyed stares showed it.

"Think about it- it keeps a person alive but not permanently- there is no fortune that anyone knows of that the stone created. Why would we assume the gold would still be around?"

"Because gold isn't alive," said Kaitlin in a tone that suggested she couldn't believe she needed to say such a thing to someone.

Teddy thought about the Burrow and Ron's offer to buy the Weasley's a bigger house. He remembered Professor Curr's words about the lure of gold seeking and how it corrupted even those with the best of intentions. He wasn't sure how to explain his thoughts about wealth. Gamp's Law, while easy enough to say, was difficult to wrap one's mind around.

Madame Seavelle had accepted Babbit's debate challenge and now everyone wanted to weigh in on it. It was like a Quidditch match, except the material was rather arcane and abstract. Kai told Teddy that Seavelle had made "shockwaves" around the Ravenclaw tower by suggesting that "Flesh, Water, Wood, Stone, Air" the previously known exclusions to elemental Transfigurations were theoretically not so absolute after all.

Teddy believed that most people weren't nearly as interested in the subject as it seemed, but rather, were fascinated by any argument that pitted the very popular Professors Seavelle and Dr. Babbit against one another.

He wasn't sure what he felt towards either of the professor's at the moment. He knew how Kai and Violet felt of course and found himself wondering if a debate between the two was such a good idea after all. There was something unmistakable about the growing rifts between his classmates, not just in the recent fights between the Punker types and the Slytherins, but amongst people who wouldn't ostensibly be seen as either type.

He glanced over at the Hufflepuff table at Dewey who was talking with Mercy and Sung Hee. Dewey caught his eye and smiled back at him. Teddy would bet that Dewey felt the same way about the professors and wondered if he would attend that evening. He glanced at Violet at the Slytherin table and then at Kai. They were both deep in conversation with the person next to them. He sighed and finished his juice. There would be no point skipping the debate as he would be hearing about it for awhile anyway.

* * *

Teddy was right that Dewey, Kai, and Violet, would all show up at the debate that evening- although that wasn't saying much as everyone seemed to be doing so. A huge crowd of people were standing outside the Transfiguration classroom, many on their tippy-toes trying to see over the heads of those in front of them.

The crowd parted and Professor Babbit emerged from the classroom. He closed his eyes and muttered Sonorous, amplifying his voice over the buzzing crowd.

"We are moving tonight's debate to the Great Hall- anyone interested in attending will need to be there in fifteen minutes." He closed his eyes and seemed to mutter something inaudibly and then glanced at Professor Rai to his right who looked back with an amused smile.

Teddy tried to read Babbit's lips as he spoke to Rai but he was being pushed back and forth by the herd of students. He gave up and followed his fellow Gryffindors to the Great Hall.

* * *

"The contention you cite, that mineral based materials cannot be created, has been directly challenged by the esteemed European academic, Nicholas Flamel" said Professor Seavelle.

The two professors were at the high table, which had been cleared and in its place two lecterns faced each other. Professor Babbit and Seavelle had been discussing Gamp's Law and all its boundaries when Seavelle, apparently fed up with the back and forth simply posed her main argument to Babbit.

"Before producing his Philosopher's Stone, Flamel spent years researching metals and their transfigurative qualities."

Professor Babbit had a slight scowl on his face at the mention of Flamel's name, but did not interrupt.

"He spent a good deal of time with the Sansovino sculptors in the Italian Ministry of Magic and observed how they were able to stretch, thin, and sometimes _replicate_ entire stones from out of the earth. He also noted the prospector's of the Pennines, for their miraculous ability to make precious metals appear out of black rock."

Seavelle glanced at the crowd and for a moment Teddy wondered if the Professor was searching for him.

"Please get to your point Professor," said Babbit.

"The Philosopher's Stone," said Seavelle with narrowed eyes, "is said to be able to change lead into its weight in gold. Flamel was said to have gone so far as to manipulate the stone's surface, density, and mass."

Babbit took a sip of his water but said nothing.

"Gamp's Law seems to have empirical contradictions- some wizards are able to manipulate minerals into their own design."

Babbit waved his hand dismissively at this. "The limits are the same, and they will never go away."

Seavelle raised her eyebrows. "Are you suggesting Flamel was lying?"

Teddy noticed that many of the students around him, and even the professors observing the debate had scooted forward on their seats to hear Babbit reply.

"I think your examples have been described fairly; however they are untenable for the purposes of this discussion."

"And why is that?"

"Because... it's chemically unfeasible to rearrange the physical world," said Babbit. His cheeks tinted slightly at the amused look on Seavelle's face.

"Professor, I was under the impression you were a Transfiguration professor at your American university."

"I was."

"Then how can you maintain its unfeasible to rearrange the physical world when even our first years are turning needles into matchsticks in their first week of school?"

There were some snickers at this question.

Babbit's face colored deeply. "I said chemical change Professor- are you familiar with the subject?"

Now Seavelle shook her hand dismissively. "Muggle science, similar to our Potions with the combining of various substances for medical purposes."

"That is one aspect of the science," Babbit agreed. "The broader view however is the study of change within all matter, of the components that create everything in the world, how they come together, stay together, and break apart."

Teddy glanced at Kai who along with many of his Ravenclaw students were taking notes at this. Kai had bit his lip at annoyance with the mention of "chemistry". Teddy chuckled as he figured his friend was going to try and tackle this tricky subject now.

"While the first year students undoubtedly change the needles into matchsticks, they are not creating real matchsticks. Even if they take on some of the essential qualities of matchsticks they are still just a temporary facsimile."

"Yes," said Seavelle. "Most transfigurations have a determined span of time before revertion but that doesn't challenge my main argument."

"In order to chemically change one object into another- so that the matchsticks never revert back, one would need to change the molecular structure entirely," said Babbit.

Seavelle looked like she could care less about the Muggle science lesson and seemed about to say as much but then stopped herself and looked down at her notes. When she looked back there was an almost conciliatory look on her face.

"In Flamel's notes, he mentions how the Sansovino sculptors had an easier time manipulating marble than they do bronze- would you have a guess why that is?"

Babbit shook his head. "I've read the accounts but I am not sure what to make of them. Perhaps it's because marble is less dense, less heavy, or more malleable than bronze."

"Flamel didn't dwell on the fact, but he did mention that the sculptors spent far more of their workday's working with marble than with bronze," continued Seavelle.

Now it was Babbit's turn to pause.

"Tell me Professor- when you taught Transfigurations did you favor one type of wood to another? Say between a heavier wood and a lighter one."

Babbit nodded, "Yes... we used basswood almost exclusively."

"And would you say that your students would have an easier time, even to this day, transfiguring bass than say oak or cherry?"

Babbit nodded.

"So I'll ask again, why is it untenable to think that someone might be so familiar with a mineral that they could permanently transfigure it?"

Babbit shook his head stubbornly. "We can make the obvious, conceptual changes, but to understand the atomic parts..." He tried again. "There are such impossibly minute changes in order for the transfiguration to be conceived and willed."

"Professor do you believe that it is impossible for anyone to be so familiar with the mineral that they could ever conceive and will it?"

Babbit sighed. "Whether it is or is not is beyond my knowledge. I will say this about Flamel and about yourself Muriel, you've both seemed to put so much thought, energy, and hope into your theory that you might grasp at any straws that might emerge, no matter how fantastic they might appear.

Seavelle narrowed her eyes at this and opened her mouth to speak but Babbit had held his hand up to continue.

"I know Flamel has written an extensive argument to challenge my contentions but he shrouds his data in secrecy."

"For good and obvious reasons."

"Be that as it may Madame, I have no reason to accept his theory at face value. I will offer two central questions that if you can answer then I will give both of you more credence… First, what evidence did Flamel leave that his stone actually worked? And second, even if he was right and could produce a stone this very evening, what good would it be?"

Seavelle looked ready to pounce on his first question, but the second question seemed to knock her off her feet.

"What good would it do?"

Babbit nodded.

"Well it would mean we could fund any project we ever needed to, no one would ever want for gold again."

"Who would never want for gold again?"

"Well... wizards of course."

"All wizards?"

Seavelle looked highly offended at this. "If you are suggesting I would hoard the gold to myself-"

"I did not and do not assume this. But I will repeat, who specifically would benefit from such a fortune?"

Seavelle still looked annoyed at the turn of his questions, "Well James I haven't drafted a business plan yet."

There were a few nervous chuckles at this, which she ignored.

"Don't you think you're putting the cart before the horse?"

Teddy had glanced around to find the sources of this laughter, but from the looks of it most of the witches and wizards around him were looking serious and even uneasy.

"Professor it wouldn't take much financial modeling to imagine a world where every wizard had unlimited amounts of gold. The prices of everything would skyrocket, the bank accounts of every family would be useless, there would be no incentive for shopkeepers to make and sell products, no reason for restaurants and pubs to stay open. If everyone had money, no one has money."

Teddy noticed that many people in the audience were nodding along at this

Seavelle must have heard the sense in this as well as she took a long time to respond. "Not everyone would have gold and I would hasten to add this is all conjecture."

"Who wouldn't have gold?" said Babbit ignoring the second statement.

"Non-wizards... People who do not use our goods or services anyway. Goblins, house elves, Muggles..."

"Ah but they have their own use for gold, don't they?"

"With the exception of house elves, yes, they all maintain their own supply."

"So the wizards would not have any more money than other wizards but they would have more compared to goblins and Muggles?"

"I never suggested all wizards would have unlimited money, just that no one wizard would hoard it over others, and this is conjecture James, but yes, that is correct."

"So we get rich on the back of non-wizards?"

"It's not about getting rich. Wealth amongst wizards is like water amongst fish. We are granted extraordinary gifts to make our lives healthy, cozy, and secure."

This time many people in the audience were nodding to Seavelle's point.

"We can of course buy exotic and beautiful items with wealth," she continued, "but that is largely a dilettante's affinity. Serious minded wizards search out gold for its magical, defensive, and industrial qualities."

Teddy could swear he saw Suchin smirking at Albert. This was confirmed as he saw the second year cuff the first year on the back of the head.

"But wouldn't a temptation exist for a powerful and ambitious wizard to abuse the powers of the stone and redirect both the wizard and non-wizard financial system?"

"Whether this would or would not happen is beyond my knowledge," said Seavelle with a small smile. "But all magic, like all power, runs the risk of corruption. We organize and submit to the rules of society in order to protect against and prevent abuse."

"Weaker men than you have relied on those words," said Babbit. He was piling up his notes and appeared ready to end the debate. "You and Flamel too."


	17. Chapter 17 Another Flying Night

**Chapter 17: Another Flying Night**

Teddy would have expected, entering the great hall the morning after the debate that the room would be abuzz with chatter. It was quiet though as everyone within was once again absorbed in the daily prophet.

"What happened now?" he asked Albert who was munching on a piece of toast and staring over his own paper glumly.

"Not sure. Something about the goblins, and about dragon bandits, and more battles," he sighed. "It's bloody depressing."

Teddy nodded and picked up Albert's copy of the daily prophet. Underneath the title, there was once again a large picture of destruction at Gringott's bank.

**Massive Increase in Violence at Gringotts**

_Reporting by Lewis Hobfly_

_Auror's clashed several times with Goblins on Monday. The battles included attempts to break through several ground level side doors with Aurors barely beating back squads of goblins as well as some fighting on the front steps of the premises. This is the fifth such battle since the New Years with three of these battles occurring in the last week._

_The Auror's and Friendly-Gringott's staff deployment of the Orange Wards has managed to keep the combative Goblins from finding alternate ways into the castle, causing their strategy to shift to attacking the legitimate entrance-ways to the building. _

_"They learn alright," commented Tolliver Cressinch the architect and overseer of both the Hogwarts and Gringott's Orange Wards. "They've realized that no matter what type of tunneling or bypassing they might try that it's pointless. So they're going after the most vulnerable spot in the chain." _

_While the doorways are relatively the weakest part of the Wards, the Goblins would still require a great deal of magic to break through. They're latest tactic, of swarming large numbers of their kind at the door has so far not been effective. They have been effective; however, in keeping the wizarding world panicked about the safety of visiting the bank. Despite an ever present Auror contingency at the bank, business has slowed considerably in the past two months. What's more, three of the largest ten accounts remain closed as the Auror's have been unsuccessful in breaking through the Goblin's locks. Following the second Gringott's attack, several Goblins locked themselves into these large accounts, effectively shutting off vast fortunes. For now the Aurors will simply have to keep working at these vaults, all the while preparing for the next assault._

The second page of the paper featured an article describing a slew of destruction in Hogsmede. While the article did not directly mention the Dragon Bandits, the writer had seemed to take pains to link the type of damages. Large holes, the size of a Quidditch ring, were blasted from one side of a building clean through to the other. The streets in front of, or sometimes below, the ruined houses were littered with flaming paper, clothes, and chairs. So far no one had been killed or even injured, but Teddy suspected that whoever was behind this seemed to be coordinating their attacks with this in mind.

He had a far more difficult time looking at the pictures of fiery houses in Hogsmede then he did in reading through the Gringott's attacks. It was hard not to think of his own house or the Burrow or the Potter estate in the same condition and before finishing the article he flipped the page again. His Godfather had his own half page picture. He was looking past him, or rather, turning his head from side to side in an annoyed fashion that clearly suggested that he didn't have time to take the picture.

_Head Auror, Harry Potter, declined to comment on the news of a series of secretive attacks against Goblin strong-points in England. His office did issue the following statement however:_

_"After many weeks of diligent investigations, my Aurors have identified a series of high value Goblin sites, throughout England. With the backing of the Wizengamot and the Minister of Magic, the Auror's led a series of raids at these locations. I am pleased to report that no Auror's were killed in these operations and that they were able to apprehend several key leaders of the Goblin army. I will continue to keep the nation updated as soon as I feel it's safe to do so and would ask that the Prophet respect our need to keep certain missions temporarily classified."_

_While Potter declined to offer if there were any other such operations in the midst, he did suggest that the recent skirmishes within the Pennines Mountain range (where it is suspected that the Goblins have their main base) was and will continue to be an area of conflict between the two sides. _

Teddy mentally kicked himself when reading about the mountain range where supposedly the Potter family's claim was located. How many times had he spoken to Harry since first hearing about the Black Stone Gorge? All of those times he had forgotten to ask him about his ancestor's business. If he could speak to his Godfather right now, he would ask if he had ever been to their mines, did people still work there (possibly now in danger of Goblin attacks), were there any valuables still locked away?

He was interrupted in this train of thought by a sharp tap on the shoulder. Standing behind him, was the sixth-year Hufflepuff Pierce. He was flanked by a few other sixth year Hufflepuffs that Teddy recognized from the Muggle Science Club meetings.

"Got a minute?" he asked.

Teddy nodded.

"I don't know how much I'm allowed to say here," he said. This statement of course caused the students sitting next to Teddy to look up from their papers and find out what the older Punker was getting at.

"I reckon you can say it quietly enough," he said

Pierce grinned and nodded in the direction of the Hufflepuff table where Leonard and his friends were watching them with interest.

"The firsties mentioned that you and your mates made an indoor flying room. When are you guys going next?"

"Well..." Teddy began. "We're kind of in a lock down."

"We've kind of been in lock down all year and that hasn't seemed to stop anybody though, right?" Pierce said.

"It's managed to stop a few of us," one of Pierce's friends replied causing all of the older Hufflepuff boys to laugh.

"I guess we could find a night sometime next week that would work," Teddy said as he mentally tried to sort out Dewey, Kai, and everyone else's various evening schedules.

"What about tonight?" Pierce asked, and then, before Teddy could reject this, he added, "We'll plan for a net this time too. That way you guys won't get kicked out over an idiot first year falling to his death."

* * *

It turned out that they really didn't need much advance notice to get a group together for the second flying park outing. Teddy had gone right over to Dewey to let him know of the plans and found that a sizable percentage of the house, Dewey included, already were planning on attending. He went to tell Kai next and was greeted with Kai's boisterous, "Why didn't we think of a net!"

"Does everyone know?" Teddy asked him as several Ravenclaws were gathered in a semi-circle behind Kai to hear what Teddy had to say.

"What?" Kai asked in response to Teddy's annoyed look. "The Flying Park hasn't exactly been a secret since our last trip."

"How do you expect to move half of your house and half of Dewey's house up there?"

"Aren't a good number of Gryffindor's also coming along?" asked a third year Ravenclaw.

"Also some Slytherins," another Ravenclaw supplied.

Kai turned and gave a look to the group that was likely supposed to cow them but either the Ravenclaws were not easily cowed or Kai couldn't sell true anger at the moment because the semi-circle seemed keen to hear Teddy's response.

"Don't look at me," Teddy said to the group. "It sounds like this was planned out before I even knew about, also before I agreed to it."

Kai grinned. "Well, you can't expel half of every house- so it'll probably be fine."

Teddy glanced at the various Ravenclaws, supposedly the most logical people in the school. "Maybe the sorting hat really has messed with us the past couple of years," he said.

* * *

"This begs the question of why we needed a map in the first place," Eloise said as the three girls ran alongside Teddy, Dewey, and Kai on the seventh floor.

Once again, Teddy was relying on the people around him to make sure he didn't run into anything as his attention was focused on the map that the older Ravenclaw had just insulted.

"They get caught, they know what will happen," Teddy replied. "And we can get split without consequence."

Dewey snorted several feet nearby, suggesting that he didn't think the other Flying Club attendees would be so noble as to necessarily leave them all out of trouble.

"Where are they anyway?" Hannah asked them as they made their way down the silent seventh floor hallway. "I half expected to see people shooting in and out of doors all around here. There's only so many hiding places."

Teddy smirked as he stopped the group in front of the small broom closet where everyone else had waited for them the last time.

"I think this room might have some leftover magic from the Room of Requirements," he said as he opened the door. Twenty three people were crowded around, ranging in size from the diminutive Hufflepuff Marcus and the first year Gryffindor Suchin, to the extremely lanky Hufflepuff sixth-years. Everyone in the room, it seemed, was glaring at Teddy and his friends, who couldn't help but laugh.

"Maybe you guys should ask the broom closet to give you double the space?" Teddy said.

"Or at least a few less brooms," Kai added.

The occupants of the room streamed past them to the room that Dewey was creating on the opposite wall. Per Teddy's instructions, this version of the Room of Requirements was as tall and spacious as the last time they were there but it also provided a massive net. Thankfully the net was created with a bit of give in mind so as not to carve up any flier unlucky enough to fall into it. There were two sets of stands, under the net of course. There was also what appeared to be the type of stretcher on hand that was at Quidditch games, hovering ominously near the doorway.

"James!" Leonard called from the center of the room. He was holding two brooms out and seemed anxious to get above the net. "Now you can show us whatever the hell you were trying to do last time."

April, who had also just walked in with Julie, Mercy and Sung Hee (the only girls from the second year attending), boggled at this. "What? Are you crazy?"

James didn't seem to notice their response though as he raced over to Leonard, grabbed a broom from him, and shot upwards. Apparently he suspected the net would open for him or didn't mind the idea of bursting through it. He was right though, as a hole allowed him and then Leonard through before sealing back up.

Soon James and Leonard were flying lazy circles around the ceiling and Teddy had to mentally remind himself that there was a net this time. Rather than stare up at them, he found himself taking a place with the other students around him in the stands.

"You know what would be awesome?" Kai asked, seemingly the only one unconcerned at the moment. "If this room had those giant Muggle screens that could show us different views of what's going on."

"I doubt even this room could get electricity to work," Eloise replied. She looked thoughtfully at the flyers for a moment and then dug into her book bag to pull out a notepad and a quill which she devoted her attention to for the remainder that she was there.

"Ok," James shouted and suddenly he was diving.

Once again his broom was plummeting away from him, but this time his body was positioned right behind it. His hands were together and pointing straight at the broom and incredibly he seemed to be gaining with the broom. The two fell faster and faster, Teddy and the rest of the group having a perfect view to watch him chase after it. Then, twenty feet or so above the net, he had his hands wrapped along the middle of the broom. He pulled up as quickly as possible, his toes dragging along the net and then he was back in the air, one hand pumping victoriously above him.

"That was your trick?" Kaitlin yelled up at him.

It didn't look like James could hear her though as he and Leonard were screaming happily back and forth at one another. The Punkers were soon on their own brooms and mobbing James.

"That was his trick?" Kaitlin repeated to herself.

Teddy grinned at her and then pulled his own broom into the air to join the others. He was soon met by the other students, many of which who hadn't flown all year. There was a happy and chaotic feeling in the air as students buzzed particularly close to one another to see if they could knock the other to the net. Dewey was the first to take the plunge when one of the sixth year Punkers got too close on a fly by. The older boy had stuck his arm out at the last moment to avoid violently hitting Dewey in the side and in the process had shoved Dewey clear off his broom. He fell twenty feet and landed face down in the net. Everyone stopped flying at various levels in the air and stared down at him, all the noise in the room dying away.

"I'm ok," Dewey shouted as he struggled to stand up on the wobbly net.

"How are you feeling?" Teddy called down to him.

"Fine- just no one fall on me alright?" he responded, and then seemingly unaffected by the fall he mounted his broom and flew back up amongst the group.

Soon other students were falling. Kai tried to stand on his own broom and took a shorter fall than Dewey had. Clippy and Kaitlin, perhaps trying to scare Teddy, had flown too close on either side of him and all three fell down into the net. James and Leonard took intentional falls. Each time the two would start out level than the other would fly a few feet above the other one and hop off the broom, smirking all the way down as they landed on their backs.

"Those two are mad," Julie said to Teddy as the two watched James fall from perhaps thirty-five feet up. She and April had spent much of the evening flying with the other girls from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

"At least there's a net now," said Teddy.

Julie nodded. "Plus they will probably get in less trouble up here than they would down there."

She was indicating down near the end of the bleachers where a number of the older Hufflepuff and Gryffindor students were gathered. Teddy couldn't get a good look at them through the net but saw that a few of them were moving out of site, underneath the bleachers.

"Whatever that is," she said.

Teddy had a guess what it might be but before either of them said anything more he felt a pair of arms under each of his arm pits, lifting him clean off his broom. Dewey and Kai were giggling on either side of him and flying him over to the center of the room where Kaitlin and Clippy were waiting for him.

"All those times in the cafeteria and common room..." Kaitlin said slowly as she tapped her wand against her hand. "This is payback."

Teddy moved his head to the side and closed his eyes as what felt like a dark lord's wrath of bat boogey pelted him. His friends, their own arms covered in a bit of the green muck, gleefully dropped him down to the mat.

"Maybe you can get your Ravenclaw friends to teach you a wandless shield spell," Kaitlin called from above.

* * *

Soon enough, the evening had gotten late and it was time to go. Teddy and Kai marshaled the remaining flyers (as most of the older kids had tired of flying early and had retired to the bleachers) to the ground. The Punkers seemed to want to stay all night but thankfully Kaitlin, who also seemed ready to leave, was able to bring them down.

"So how do we do this?" Pierce asked Teddy. He was holding a half drunk bottle of butter beer in his hand and looking highly amused at the situation.

Suddenly it seemed to Teddy that there were dozens more people in the room then there had been last time. The prospect of everyone getting out without getting caught now seemed really unlikely.

"We go in two's and three's," he said, hoping to sound nonchalant.

"Uh huh," Pierce said, causing several of the older students to laugh.

"We space ourselves out," Teddy said glancing towards Dewey and Kai. "Every five minutes or so someone goes."

"And when one group gets caught- how do they let the others know that the hall monitors are onto us?" asked Charlie Wingle, one of Pierce's friends.

Teddy breathed out impatiently. "Do you guys have a better plan?"

Pierce and his friends exchanged glances as did many of the groups of people around Teddy.

"I might," said Guy Thomas. Guy had spent the majority of the evening working on some sort of routine that involved flying downwards and barreling around quickly. He had seemed content by himself and had retained, even now, an air of unconcern.

"Some kids were running around the castle earlier this year. The prefects heard some noise and went to investigate but all they found was a mace and shield that had previously been fastened to the wall."

"Ok," Kai said. "But who's going to be the distraction?"

Everyone's eyes met Teddy. He sighed.

* * *

Grandma Andromeda had exactly one portrait in her house. It featured Teddy's mother, a lovely photo that showcased his mother's propensity to change her hair color, facial features, and her general appearance whenever it amused her. Teddy had spent a good deal of time in front of it and as such was very used to and comfortable around it. Hogwarts, on the other hand, had hundreds of portraits lining the walls; Teddy had the very uncomfortable feeling that they suspected what he was planning on doing. He had noticed that the heads of two suits of armor had turned slightly when he entered the hallway. People within all of their pictures seemed unusually focused on him, some whispering to the people within their frames.

"Relax," Teddy whispered to the hallway. "I'm not going to break anything important."

He raised his wand and searched for something large and inexpensive. Finding a large candle-holder on a table lining a wall he aimed. He paused though, and walked over to the table.

"Why do we need to blast everything?" he asked himself. He pushed the candle-holder over. It fell to the ground, but the clash it made was short lived and weak. Teddy picked it up, rushed over to the staircase, and heaved it down the steps.

This time the candle crashed and banged all the way down. He turned and made a break in the opposite direction. The practical map showed a cluster of red dots splinter at the end of the seventh floor. A group of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws headed up to the towers, the other group of Hufflepuff's headed downwards. There were plenty of people moving around the hallways, teachers leaving their lounge and heading to their classrooms, and pairs of prefects on each floor. It was very difficult to tell the effect of his noise though as several of the pairs of prefects seemed to be on the move.

He was on the sixth floor, near the library when he noticed a pair of prefects on the map turn around and head for the staircase that would take him to Gryffindor. He turned and raced back to the staircase that he had thrown the candle-holder down but another pair or dots was already climbing up towards him. He headed back towards the Gryffindor staircase, hoping to get there before the prefects, but he could hear their footsteps.

Cursing to himself, he searched his mind to find the most detailed image of Teazle the house elf that he knew. His ears grew large and floppy, his nose long and thin, his skin faded in color, and his whole body shrunk down. He took out his wand and used the color swapping charm to fade his own robes into a drab shade of gray. He ripped the robes and used his wand to singe the edges of it. The robe would be useless now of course but he would gladly go buy a new one if it meant him not getting caught.

"Hey..." Van said, emerging from the staircase before Sarah. He didn't seem to know the house elf's name though and clearly was uncomfortable not knowing how to address him. "Did you see someone come this way?"

Teddy almost grinned at the two of them who didn't seem for a second to question his appearance. He shook his head though and then started walking past them.

"Er..." Van called from behind him.

Teddy grimaced and turned around.

"I think they want to speak with you," Van said. He pointed down the hall where Teddy was shocked to discover Lolo and Potty (two house elves Teddy knew fairly well).

"Thanks," he whispered in what he hoped was the correct squeaky voice. He hurried over to the two house elves who looked as surprised to see him as he was them.

"Youse not Teazle," said Lolo

"This is bad. Very bad," said Potty.

Teddy was very curious as to what gave it away but he also knew that any minute the pairs of prefects would be in the hallway and would likely want to ask them more questions.

"I'm sorry," he said in his normal voice. "I'm Teddy Lupin. Everything is fine but I didn't want the prefects to see me and so I changed into the first house elf I could think of."

The two elves looked very uncomfortable but they did not say anything.

"I'm going to go straight to Gryffindor- I won't tell anyone about this."

The house elves exchanged looks and were about to respond when another set of prefects, Ursula and Caicus, approached them. They must have been the two dots that were climbing the staircase that he had heaved the candle holder down. Caicus seemed to confirm this as he was holding the item in his hands.

"Do any of you know what happened here?" He asked Teddy and the two house elves.

The two house elves stared at Teddy and then looked back at the prefects. They shut their mouths tightly and shook their heads.

Teddy sighed, knowing that neither of these prefects were likely to believe them.

"It was a boy," he said to them, using the same high-pitched voice. "He was running down the hall and one of his hands accidentally hit that off a table. It fell down to the ground and kept going all the way down the stairs. He just kept running down after it and I didn't see anything after that."

Ursula's eyes were narrowed into a very intense gaze. "Was he with anyone?"

Teddy shook his head.

"What did he look like?" She asked him. "Any distinguishing features?"

Teddy shook his head again. Lolo and Potty looked even more uncomfortable at this turn of events.

Ursula whispered something to Caicus. He nodded and then put a hand on Teddy's shoulder.

"Do you have a few minutes? We need to write this up and let the Headmistress know."

Teddy's eyes widened and he inadvertently took a step back from them.

"You're not in any trouble," Ursula said. "The Headmistress has made it very clear that any sneaking around in the castle needs to be brought to her attention though- it should just take five minutes."

Teddy glanced back at the other house elves who each looked very worried for him.

"That sounds ok," he told the prefects. "I'll meet you in the kitchens," he said this last line a bit slower, hoping the elves would get his message that he wouldn't be seeing them that evening. Whether they picked up on this or not was impossible to tell as their own expressions didn't change.

Teddy smiled as best he could to the prefects and then followed them as they made their way to Llewelyn's office.

* * *

"Come in," the Headmistress yelled from somewhere above the spiraling staircase.

Teddy trudged along behind the two prefects. He wasn't sure how a normal house elf might behave in this situation and hoped that cowering and saying as little as necessary would suffice.

Llewelyn didn't express any surprise at seeing the prefects bring a house elf forward. She did however seem harried with all of the piles of paper on her desk. Her reading glasses had slipped halfway down her nose and her hair had partially fallen out of the tight bun that she normally kept it in.

"This elf witnessed the infraction?" she asked.

Caicus gently nudged Teddy forward. "It was a boy, this elf wasn't sure who."

The headmistress peered more closely at Teddy. "And what exactly did you see?" she asked.

Teddy opened his mouth to explain but at that moment the office's fireplace burst into flames. A voice called from it, "Headmistress Llewleyn- are you there?"

Llewelyn glanced down at her watch and cursed to herself. She gave the prefects an apologetic look to which they understood that it was their cue to leave. They started down the staircase and a very relieved Teddy followed after them.

"Wait. You- I'm sorry, I do not remember your name."

Teddy closed his eyes in frustration and then turned around.

"Can you wait here? This should only take a few minutes."

Teddy nodded and climbed up onto a seat facing her. She smiled at him and then, after quickly fixing her hair back into place and organizing the papers into two neat piles, looked over his shoulder.

"I'm here Mr. Potter and the room is secure on my end."

Teddy nearly jumped out of his seat. Thankfully, the Headmistress didn't seem to be paying attention to him and his back was to the fireplace.

"Good evening Headmistress," called his Godfather's voice from the fireplace.

She smiled back at him. "Good evening Mr. Potter. I hope your day has been less eventful than the previous ones."

Harry didn't respond at first and when Teddy turned around to catch a peek at him, his face seemed troubled. Unlike the Headmistress, Harry did seem taken aback at seeing a house elf there.

"Don't mind him," Llewelyn said. "Apparently students were running around the castle tonight and he witnessed one of them."

Harry gave a polite smile to Teddy before turning back to the headmistress.

"I've gone over the evidence from the last assault on the castle; it seems my earlier hunch was correct."

"There was no damage to any of the Goblins involved?" Llewelyn asked.

"Well there was damage in the sense that their bodies locked down. We have the six in custody. But unlike the first time, there were no singed marks, no contusions, no evidence the Orange Wards attacked their bodies. The only way the Wards would react this way is if the intruders intent was unequivocally harmless."

"Unless someone manipulated the Wards," Llewelyn said.

Harry sighed. "Yes that's true. But all signs point to them not knowing how to do that. They're attacking Gringotts multiple times a day and they haven't made even the slightest progress into dealing with those Orange Wards."

Llewelyn glanced over her shoulder where the dozens of past headmasters were quietly conversing amongst themselves. She seemed to listen indifferently to the various conversations for a bit before looking back to Harry.

"You think someone within the castle had something to do with it."

It was not a question and Harry realized this. He nodded slowly though.

"Not necessarily that someone inside is in contact with those Goblins, but yes, I think a wizard outside must have something to do with this and the most reasonable guess is that someone within the castle is in contact with them."

"And you would like me to question my staff?" she asked, seeming to know exactly what he was getting at.

Harry did not say anything again and when Teddy turned back to look at him he seemed to be framing his words very carefully.

"Mair, this is your school. I won't intervene within these walls unless I absolutely have to. We are doing everything we can out here to find out why those goblins are trying to get into the castle. You need to do the same thing."

The two were silent for a moment, and then, Llewelyn nodded back to acknowledge the point.

"Thanks for your time tonight- I realize you must be stretched pretty thin."

Harry chuckled. "My wife isn't thrilled by my recent hours. We'll figure this out soon enough though."

Mair nodded. "That we will. Have a good night Mr. Potter."

"You too," Harry said. "Goodnight both of you."

The fire burst once more and then silence overtook the room.

The Headmistress stared at the absent fireplace for a moment more before turning back to Teddy.

"So I've already heard one account. Someone was running around and knocked a candleholder off a table?"

Teddy nodded, since she had already told his lie, he might as well finish it for her.

* * *

The headmistress only kept him for ten minutes. Once he reassured her that the candleholder spotting hadn't taken place on an off limits part of the castle she had seemed far less troubled.

Teddy was tired of posing as a house elf, with their ridiculous floppy ears and short little legs that seemed to require a great deal more steps to get anywhere. Normal house elves could apparate of course, but his elfishness was only skin deep.

He couldn't take the same staircase that the prefects seemed to be favoring and so instead he was taking the long way back to Gryffindor. The halls were extremely quiet at this time of night and so he heard the muffled noise from much farther than he might normally. The noise was coming from the same classroom that Dewey and he had overheard whispering within early that year. He crept as quietly as he could to the doorway, making sure no one else was around to see him.

"_Are you watching him?" _said that same, strangely under-water sounding voice as before.

Someone inside whispered something that he couldn't make out.

"_She's not taking him seriously enough. I need you to find the pattern."_

The other voice whispered again, and at that moment, Teddy found himself seriously considering opening the door a crack. But before he could do so he once again felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Mr. Lupin sir," said Rowley. "Is that you?"

Teddy gaped at the elf, wondering how exactly he saw through his disguise. "Yes?"

Rowley grabbed his wrist. "It might be easier to apparate if you stay small like that."

Teddy glanced down at the hand on his wrist and then back at the elf. "Where are we going?"

"To the fainting room. Ms. Parker is already there."


	18. Chapter 18 The Indoor Quidditch Season

**Chapter 18****: The Indoor Quidditch Season**

Violet was indeed already waiting in the fainting room for Rowley and Teddy. She was seated stiffly, with both hands on her bouncing knees, on one end of the room's luxurious velvet couch.

"What's going on?" Teddy said, his own voice sounding strangely alien after all that time speaking like a house elf.

"Teddy?" Violet asked.

He nodded and resumed his old shape; Rowley, he noticed, was bent over and taking long deep breaths. Apparently his smaller size had not made the apparation that much easier for the small elf.

When the elf had gotten his breath back he fixed both of them with a worried gaze. "I know I shouldn't be taking you two here this late at night."

Teddy and Violet shook this off.

"Well, I'm saying, I know this is not normally acceptable," Rowley managed to allow a small smile to pass over his worried face. "But I need to tell someone, and you are two of Madame's favorite students."

Violet, who seemed quite elated at this news, got up from her seat and put her hand on the house elf's shoulder. "What's wrong with Madame?"

"We don't know where she's going," Rowley said, looking somewhat ashamed. "But she's been gone from meals."

Teddy glanced over at Violet's to see if this incredibly obvious piece of news could really deserve this sort of concern.

"What do you mean she's not at meals?" she asked.

"Most of the time she eats in her office. Sometimes in the teacher's lounge. Sometimes in the Great Hall," Rowley explained. "Since the beginning of the semester, she hasn't been in any of those places."

"And why does that mean she's not eating?" Teddy asked.

Rowley, who had been focused on the floor, gave him a particularly annoyed look. "We bring her meals. The other house elves know not to."

"Has she been acting peculiar?" Violet cut in.

Rowley shrugged, "I don't know. She always spends her time reading. It's not any different than usual."

"Has she said anything different?" Violet asked.

Rowley shrugged again, albeit this time a bit more uncomfortably. "She doesn't say much."

Teddy realized that besides the occasional greetings and small exchanges at dinner parties, he really hadn't spoken much with this house elf. They had all immediately come to ascribe traits to Rowley that perhaps were a bit too optimistic. Worrying about a grown witch, an incredibly intelligent and capable witch for that matter, that she might starve without the help of her house elves? It seemed Rowley was being hysterical.

Violet seemed to guess what Teddy was thinking as she fixed him with a look that clearly meant _we need to talk about this later_.

"Err don't worry Rowley," Teddy said, clapping the elf lightly on the back, "Violet and I will try and figure out what's going on with Madame. She's probably just working really hard on something and needs quiet. There are loads of places in this school where people can sneak away to study."

Rowley nodded unhappily.

"He's probably right," Violet said. "But we will figure out what's going on- alright?"

The elf perked up a bit at this. "I knew I went to the right people. Thank you both, thank you, thank you."

Teddy laughed and clapped the elf again on the back. Violet gave a cheery smile but when she caught Teddy's eye that earlier look of worry was plainly there.

Teddy mouthed, "talk later" to her to which she nodded.

"Rowley... If I make myself really small, does it really make apparating any easier?"

Now it was Rowley's turn to offer a fake cheery smile.

* * *

"So what am I missing?" Teddy asked Violet.

The two were in the library the day after their Fainting Room talk. Teddy had filled his cousin in on the details from the Headmistress's talk as well as the mysterious room conversation that he half-heard. By the time he had finished explaining everything Violet looked uncharacteristically gob-smacked.

"Well," she said after finally regaining some sort of composure, "we can't assume that all of these different things have anything to do with each other."

Teddy frowned; this was exactly the sort of statement that muddled everything up further.

"Do you think Madame might be leaving the castle though," he pressed on, avoiding her indignant look. "Harry said that someone was trying to communicate with the outside world and Rowley said that they didn't know where she was going."

"Has Kai gone on to you about how terrible Madame is?" Violet asked.

Teddy started to reply to this and then stopped himself. He knew that adding anything about his own feelings of Kai or Madame would just make Violet more combative. He reached into his bag and slipped out a box of Mernie Menkin's Triple Dark Chocolate Stars and offered them to his cousin. She graciously accepted and the two ate in silence for a moment.

"Her house elves are worried about her," Teddy said. "We should at least find out where she's going."

Violet nodded. "That's the thing though, they _should_ be able to find her. It's in their bond."

"Well perhaps Madame is lifting it though."

"People don't do that. They ignore the house elves and the house elves tend to stay removed when they aren't wanted."

"But," Teddy interrupted, "there's got to be a way to hide if someone wanted to."

"I don't think so," Violet said. "We could check but honestly it's not something a wizard does. We've got elves and if you don't want them around then they won't be around. It's part of the bond."

It sounded very much to Teddy that just because Violet's family had never felt the need to banish a house elf that she was insisting the rest of the world worked the same way. It didn't really matter much though and so he decided to change tactics.

"Remember that map that I mentioned to you?"

She nodded and moved in closer so they could lower their voices even more.

"We finished it awhile ago. It's brilliant- it's got all the parts of the castle that people have gone to and everyone in the building is on it."

She raised her eyebrows; apparently impressed.

"We can find Madame on it the next time she disappears," Teddy said eagerly.

"That sounds great. Let's see it," she said.

"Well- I don't have it right now. We'll need to get it."

She pushed away from the table, apparently all ready to go with him.

"One thing though," Teddy said. He worked to smile cheerfully. "Kai's got the map and he's really curious whenever I do take it... That won't be a problem will it?"

* * *

There were some advantages of being locked into the castle. Namely, students wouldn't have to trek through the harsh mid-February weather to a Herbology greenhouse or Care of Magical Creatures class. Heavy snowfall had recently descended on the area, seen through the magical ceiling of the great hall on one day at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The library and Inter-house Common Room were far less frequented lately as students sought refuge near the fireplaces of their own common room. Talk at the school had shifted away from things like missing Hogsmede trips and lounging by the lake. Students had even stopped complaining about the lack of Quidditch going on at the school.

It was strange therefore, when Headmistress Llewelyn informed the student body that there would be a special indoor Quidditch competition at the beginning of March. The four houses would play in a single elimination tournament, the winner receiving the first indoor Quidditch cup in the school's history.

"She's got to be joking," Albus said at the Gryffindor table.

"Shut it," Colin said as he cuffed him lightly on the head. "Don't, don't, don't jinx this."

Llewelyn had to wait almost a minute for the discussions around the Great Hall to die down before continuing. "Obviously, this room was not designed with Quidditch in mind. Certain—precautions will need to take place in order to ensure that no damage will come to the room. With this in mind, practice time will be limited. Teams will get one evening each week to practice."

A few voices of outrage erupted around the hall, which Llewleyn must have anticipated because she was nodding in an understanding way.

"Yes, we knew the captains wouldn't appreciate that."

Everybody, except most likely the captains, chuckled at this.

"Practices will begin tomorrow night- I would suggest teams figure out their try out system in the meantime."

Everybody began talking once again at this, but the headmistress wasn't finished.

"One more thing, like in previous years, students who find themselves in discipline problems will not be eligible for extra-curricular activities like Quidditch," she paused to let this sink in. "Fighting, be it in hallway duels or in Muggle pile-up's will remove a person's involvement in any part of this tournament."

This time her words did not generate discussion among the students. She must have suspected this as she simply went back to her seat and resumed her cup of tea and her place in the newspaper.

* * *

The headmistress's warning was one of many recent reminders that fighting was forbidden at Hogwarts. Teddy suspected that, despite the overwhelming interest in the special Quidditch season, her words were unlikely to prevent the now routine skirmishes plaguing Hogwarts.

The feuding was mainly between the older boys of the various houses, although wizards and witches from each year had taken part in it. Most of the school thought that the trouble revolved around the Punker types from Hufflepuff. It made sense considering how the Punker types seemed to be on one end of any fight. Teddy had heard though, from Kaitlin, Clippy, and the first year Punkers, that the older Hufflepuffs were being harassed and goaded into each of these encounters. The phrase "Punker Baiting" had even become mainstream as Neville Longbottom had cautioned his own house against doing this sort of thing.

"This isn't funny," he added to the sixth and seventh years who were smirking at his use of the term.

On the other side of the fight were students that didn't have a label as convenient as Punker. They tended to be amongst the more ambitious and aspiring students; the boys that were dating the older witches on the Ball Committee; the students who read the society pages and sought connections to important wizarding families. Also, the students who just didn't get along with the Punkers (this applied to several Gryffindors); people who perhaps still had too much energy.

Teddy was resolved to stay out of the situation, if only to stay on good terms with both Violet and Kai. He was with Kai (and Dewey) at that week's Muggle Science Club which was now made up almost entirely of Ravenclaws and Punkers.

"Bloody wanker nearly burnt through my shoe," Pierce was saying to his friend Charlie Wingel. "No idea what he even cast. He probably didn't either. It was like some sort of flaming jam."

"Gross," Charlie offered as he was slowly dumping a smaller vial into their group's beaker.

"So then I body bind the git and he falls right on his mate. Breaks that guy's foot."

Teddy and Kai had given up on the day's assignment as it seemed impossible to work when stories like this were within earshot. Dewey, perhaps being saturated with his houses stories, was doing all of the group's work.

"How did O'Neal break his foot then?" Charlie asked. O'Neal was the seventh year Slytherin who had shot the flaming jam and then fallen on his mates foot in the battle. Many of Pierce's stories seemed to involve him.

"Well his mate's making all sort of noise like we broke both his damn legs and we go over to see what's up. Apparently O'Neal is nonverbing the counter though and he goes to shoot some more of that fire goop at me. I'm trying to stomp out the fire though as the stuff has engulfed one of my legs and sometime while I was doing this I step down hard on that idiot's foot. Nearly set his knickers on fire- the prat."

Teddy and Kai snickered along with several other groups near Pierce's table. Dr. Babbit, however, wasn't amused.

"This isn't storytelling time Pierce. Knock it off or I'll consider this an admission of a discipline problem and you will no longer be admitted at this extracurricular."

Babbit seemed to be in a rather testy mood the whole evening. After giving his brief opening remarks, he had snapped, "Well, what are you waiting for?" Teddy wasn't sure what his problem was, but he was in no mood to cross the professor. He was nervous then, a bit after the various groups had gone back to work, when Babbit was suddenly behind him expecting an answer.

"Sir?"

"I said, what is the acidity level of your mixture?"

Teddy glanced at Kai and Dewey who didn't appear to want to answer in front of the professor.

"I'm not sure sir," Teddy admitted.

Babbit stared back at him for a moment but did not comment. He moved onto the next group and seemed just as challenging in his questions for them.

"What's eating him?" Teddy asked, once Babbit was on the other side of the room.

Kai shook his head. "I thought he was going to hex you for a moment."

"Hex him?" Dewey asked skeptically.

"Well not hex," Kai admitted. "I'm not sure what he would do. I've never heard of anyone getting detentions from him, or house points lost or anything like that."

"He does look like he wants to hex someone," Teddy commented.

At that moment, there was the sound of chairs sliding quickly out of the way as Babbit moved to the front of the class.

"I'm sorry," he said without turning around as he had gotten a piece of chalk and immediately set to work writing sequences of letters onto the board. "I'm not having a very good day and frankly you're not helping this."

Teddy stared along with the class as the professor wrote one long word, perhaps thirty letters in all, made up entirely of G's, C's, A's, and T's. At some point he stopped, began again underneath the word, and wrote an equally puzzling new word.

"I've gotten another letter today," he said as he began another GCAT word. "This will be the fourth; denying my research project. Four times I've gone through the leg work, four times I've drafted and redrafted my thesis, four times I've laid it out for them and still..."

He became silent again as he began to work on his fifth word. The chalkboard was nearly full of letters and noticing this he grabbed his wand from the desk behind him, muttered a spell and all the writing on the board vanished and then reappeared at a third of it's size at the top of the board.

"The I.C.S," he spat. "What an asinine excuse."

Someone cleared his throat causing Babbit to turn around irritably.

"Guy?" he asked, seemingly expecting a question from him.

"How would you go about researching your thesis?" Guy asked. He was glancing back and forth at a scroll on his desk. A Muggle highlighter floated over it, marking various sections. He swatted the pen away as he ran a finger over the text.

"Isolating the gene within wizards that determines their magic core... How would you test that?"

The frustration on Babbit's face vanished at this question. He motioned to Guy to send the parchment his way which Guy charmed over. Babbit smiled at the little highlighter which had traveled with the paper and stubbornly continued to get in his way so it could mark up the page.

"An additional attraction charm was a smart idea," he said almost to himself as he unrolled the parchment and began reading a particular paragraph. Finally he looked up.

"You'll want to teach the other Muggle Studies students that reference charm Guy—it was a lifesaver for me in college and I always wondered why we hadn't picked it up earlier on in school. As for my research... I want to compare the genome of a wizard with a Muggle."

"I'm sorry sir," Charlie said, "but I have no clue what you two are talking about."

There were several voices around the classroom echoing that statement.

"Ok, ok," Babbit said. "I sometimes forget that I'm not in my graduate program at Flamel. My thesis argued that a specific piece of each person's genetic code signifies if the person will have a magical core or not."

Babbit looked around a bit and must have seen some blank faces so he pointed his wand at a rolled up poster in the corner of the room which flew up over his head and unfurled itself to reveal a drawing of two strands revolving around one another with little ladder rungs connecting the two strands each half inch or so.

He started to explain what base pairs were and how enough of them created a DNA code but it quickly went over Teddy's head.

"Do you get," he started to ask Kai but Kai shushed him as he was rapidly taking notes.

Finally Babbit paused from speaking. He motioned to the chalkboard behind him.

"Those are parts of our particular code, and by ours I mean all humans, that could possibly point to the 'magic gene'."

Suddenly everyone inched forward a bit as if newly impressed by the power of the letters on the wall.

"Guy brings up a good question. How do you compare one genome to another? Well you need a wizard's genome for starters and thus far the department of magical education hasn't wanted anything to do with that."

Teddy wondered if Harry knew about this aspect of Babbit's research. Surely it wouldn't be a secret if he freely talked about it with his students. On the other hand, the professor seemed genuinely resentful of his American ministry for not supporting his work. Perhaps he should let Neville know to tell this to Harry the next time they spoke.

"But sir," Guy said quietly. "Wouldn't you need the help of Muggles to map a wizard's genome?"

Babbit nodded vigorously. "If we ever are going to do it, we would have to work hand in hand with them. We would really need their computing power if we wanted to search through that length of code anyway."

"Wouldn't that be..." Pierce paused, uncharacteristically uncomfortable. "Kind of obvious though?"

"Obvious?" Babbit asked.

Pierce bit his lip and looked like he didn't want to voice his thought but Charlie answered for him. "The Muggles would know you were searching for something like that. They would figure out exactly what you were getting at."

"And?" Babbit asked again.

The Punkers looked at one another like they were wondering if this were a trick question.

"They find out, we take that specific knowledge away once we've finished the work. We do it all the time with breaches; I'm sure the ministries around the world could stomach a small team's worth of memory charms."

Okay, Teddy thought, this would definitely need to get to Neville's attention.

* * *

Each of the house's had their first Quidditch practice that week. Considering the extremely shortened season and the quirk of not knowing what house anybody would face in the elimination round of the tournament, none of the captain's minded having people from other house's watch their practice. They probably figured that any strategy they might wish to use would be impossible to coordinate and the only real asset they could do was to practice fundamentals.

A large portion of the student body showed up to watch each practice. People were excited to see a hot new talent emerge; perhaps people were looking forward to new people failing spectacularly. The staff had set two large bleacher sections on the sides of the great hall, and students from every house sat in small clusters with their friends.

True to his word, Colin was trying out on Gryffindor's practice night (the first of any house practice). He looked rather green during dinner that evening, not even bothering to put any food onto his plate.

"Mate, it doesn't matter if you make the team if you're gonna vomit on everybody's heads during practice," Albus said.

Colin seemed too apprehensive to even answer him. He tried to convince Teddy (and to his surprise) Kaitlin and Clippy to go out for the team with him but none of them were interested. Teddy might have been interested in another year but with the amount of time he spent in his various clubs and the extra attention he was focusing on his classes, the idea of another responsibility on top of that seemed onerous.

Kaitlin smiled at the offer but told him no thanks. She indicated that she and Clippy were planning on making fun of the other flyers from the bleachers.

"Uhm... I didn't know you wanted to do that," Clippy said.

She looked at him questioningly.

"I didn't know there was going to be a season this year, but if I did I would have told you that I spent the previous summer practicing with a snitch."

"Seeker?" Albus said impressively. He evaluated him through squinted eyes. "You any good?"

Clippy laughed and shrugged. "Good enough that I would be up for trying out at least."

Katilin looked annoyed at this but patted him on the shoulder. "You've got some practice anyway. You'll be amazing."

At the practice, Clippy did fly very well. He managed to outrace a third year and a fifth year from their house in three tight circles around the top of the great hall. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to beat the current seeker, an unusually short and quiet fifth year boy that Teddy barely had interacted with.

Clippy didn't look disappointed when he took a spot near Teddy on the bleachers.

"Raul's a really quality flier. I had heard that, I just thought maybe I might have a better night."

"You did great," Kaitlin said, punching him on the arm. "Better than anyone else looking for a spot."

Clippy glanced back and forth between Teddy and Kaitlin as if he was weighing if he should say something or not—then he grinned. "They said that if this were a normal season that I would have been a reserve and I'm a shoo-in for it next year."

Teddy clapped him on the back and Kaitlin punched his arm again.

The safety precaution that the staff had used (besides coming up with a net that was remarkably similar to the one Dewey created in the ROR) was lining the entire walls of the Great Hall with what looked like a massive parchment sheet. Kai (who was seated a row up with Dewey and the Ravenclaw girls) suggested it looked like the Muggle's wax paper. The beater practice made very interesting use of the barrier as bludgers made thick gouges all along the wall. A hopeful beater would swing his bat with all his might at incoming bludgers and then, if they hit it hard enough, the ball would momentarily get stuck in the barrier. Soon enough the barrier would make a rude noise and the ball would fall innocently downward a few feet before realizing it was a bludger (to which it would resume its warlike path).

"How's Colin doing?" Dewey asked over his shoulder.

Teddy shrugged, "I have no idea how anyone is doing. It looks like they're all just in one crazy circle smacking balls at one another."

"You mean Quidditch," Eloise said.

Dewey made an outraged noise at this to which the girls around them laughed.

It turned out Colin had done well though because when he flew down to the rest of the group he was beaming from ear to ear.

"I made it," he shouted to Teddy.

Before Teddy could congratulate him he was already climbing past him in the bleachers shouting to the Gryffindors. Teddy turned and watched him and noticed that Colin wasn't stopping to acknowledge anyone, actually he seemed to be making a weirdly haphazard path through the bleachers. Near the top row he stopped by Julie and April.

"I made it" Teddy could hear even from a distance.

April and Julie started to congratulate him but they stopped when they noticed that he wasn't looking at them. Sophia and her friends were seated a few seats over in the top row. Colin was watching to see when she would look in his direction. When she did, he turned back to April and Julie and yelled, "I made it."

April mouthed something that looked to Teddy like "great" and then she and Julie promptly ignored him.


	19. Chapter 19 Water and Fire

**Chapter 19****: Water and Fire**

The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tryouts had been far less interesting to Teddy as no one he knew was going out for any position. Dewey and Kai seemed to be on the same page as they both stated that they were busy enough as is. The shocker though was when they took the stands during the Slytherin practice and found tiny Violet taking practice laps along the top of the wall.

"I didn't know she even knew how to fly," Kai said.

Teddy raised his hand a bit to Dewey to find out whether this deserved a good smack or not. Dewey shook his head but gave Kai a disbelieving look anyway.

Violet could indeed fly. Not only was she faster than the other three Slytherins competing for Seeker but she was far more agile. She managed at the beginning of the race to sneak between two racers without them even seeing her, then she did this again towards the end of the first lap. By the end of the second lap she had put a good distance between her and the other three and this would only increase through the end of the race.

"Didn't her dad play when he went here?" Dewey asked.

Teddy nodded. "He must have trained her too—she's going to be pretty decent."

* * *

In the few weeks since the dance, Teddy had taken to sitting with Julie and April during Herbology classes. The two girls were actually really fun once he spent some time with them. This particular afternoon though, he was torn whether he should sit with the girls and hope that they wouldn't ask him about the letter he received at lunch or if he should just ignore them for a day or so.

Chloe seemed to have a knack for delivering letters on the mornings that Julie was seated nearby in the great hall. Since they were always in the same rolled up Muggle envelope, it wasn't hard to tell when it might be from her. Teddy had told Julie after the dance that she really didn't need to feel guilty about what happened to Chloe. He tried to reassure her that Chloe was happier in the Muggle world (not totally believing this himself though) and that she bore no ill feelings towards anyone—including Julie. He had hoped that Julie would let the matter drop but he suspected that this might be wishful thinking. When the letter had come earlier that morning, Julie had briefly caught his eye and then rapidly looked away.

It would be just as obvious if Teddy tried to avoid the girls though so he ended up taking a seat between the two of them. Neville was doing yet another lecture class today. Since the greenhouses were outside there were only so many practical lessons that the students could do. No one seemed particularly thrilled about this, including the professor.

"It seems like I lost you all," he said with a sigh. "This is all in your text anyway. You guys can read through today's chapter for a minute. I'm going to go through the cupboards and see if I can find some examples for you all to work with."

Teddy grinned as Neville stomped out of the room. He had heard from Harry and Ron that Neville could go a little stir crazy if he was kept away from his greenhouse too long. There were various stories about Hannah waking up in the middle of the night to find her bed empty. She would head over to one of the greenhouses and find her husband merrily tending to various plants.

"This class is really different indoors," Julie said, nudging him to get his attention.

He nodded.

"I don't think Professor Longbottom enjoys it either," she said.

"I think he's ready to turn this classroom into a greenhouse," Teddy said.

April and Julie laughed at this.

Five minutes passed and Neville showed no sign of returning. April questioned whether they should stick around or not. It didn't seem necessary as most of the students had closed their books and were treating this like it was a free period anyway. Colin and Albus charmed a paper airplane into the back of April's head and she took off to go playfully cuff them.

As soon as April was out of earshot, Julie cleared her throat. "Did Chloe write to you today?"

Teddy narrowed his eyes at her to indicate that he didn't want to talk about it.

"I know you don't like when I ask about it," she went on, "but I was just wondering how she sounded."

"How she sounded?" Teddy responded.

"Look," she said, her voice somewhat shaky. "I've got a funny feeling about her. She hadn't returned my last letter and..."

Teddy put his hands up. "Whatever is going on between the two of you is none of my business. It's the same way with the two of us."

He didn't bother explaining that the two of us meant Teddy and Chloe and Julie didn't need the clarification. Strangely, she actually seemed somewhat put out by Teddy's response. As if he was being the rude one.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize only you can discuss Chloe," she said icily and then got up and went to sit with the other Gryffindor girls at a nearby table.

Teddy breathed through his nose and shook his head to himself. How many times would she budge her way into things? He was a bit disturbed by her mentioning a funny feeling regarding Chloe—but had no intention of pursuing the matter further with her.

Chloe had written her latest letter in what seemed like three of four rushed sessions. The paragraphs would end in mid-sentence and pick up on another idea in the next one. She had mentioned that she was studying some magical theory from books that she had ordered through the _Prophet_, then she mentioned that she was mad that she had missed a year in her private school as many of the girls had formed close little groups without her. She said that she felt like a stranger sitting with her parents at dinner, then she said that she didn't think she could ever leave her house for a far-away boarding school again. The whole thing had read like multiple authors had composed it. She seemed harried, antsy, and distant. He wasn't sure how to respond.

* * *

Neville didn't get back to class until there were five minutes left. He returned with a giant box that was full of... Teddy wasn't sure. Neville was grinning from ear to ear and his tone suggested that the students were in for a great surprise.

"The cupboards were bare," he said, walking around the classroom and depositing a clay pot full of dark dirt in front of everybody. "All of the plants we might be covering this year are either in the greenhouses or won't be in bloom. However, I did manage to find these little beauties."

"Err... Professor?" Colin started to ask.

"Nope, part of the fun is in you guys figuring out what I'm giving you. A box of chocolate frogs to the student that brings the most flourishing plant to me next class. Something funny Mr. Lupin?"

Teddy tried to hide the smirk on his face. Neville was one of the few teachers that outright bribed students from time to time. "No sir... Just wondering if these plants are magical?"

Neville rolled his eyes. "I would suggest putting some research into this. I do know your Grandmother and Godfather very well after all and we are overdue for a chat."

This time Neville was the one smirking.

* * *

"Why do you need the map?" Kai asked Teddy. The two were standing a few feet apart on identical brown squares, keeping their voices low so that the rest of the class, who were also standing on their own squares, did not overhear them.

"Just trust me ok? I'll tell you about it later," Teddy whispered back.

The Gryfindors and Ravenclaws were in their Transfiguration class later that afternoon. Professor Curr had surprised everyone by telling them not to take their usual seats that day. Then he transfigured the floor of the room to resemble a giant chess board and instructed all of the students to stand on a brown square.

"Is it about Violet?" Kai asked. Several Ravenclaw students nearby gave Teddy and Kai funny looks for them leaning their heads over to whisper to one another.

"I'll tell you later Kai," Teddy said. He was annoyed but unsurprised that Kai would demand to know why Teddy needed the map. This, of course, was exactly why Violet had insisted that he promise not to reveal anything to him.

"Gentlemen..." Professor Curr said rather politely from the front of the class. "Have you finished your personal conversation yet?"

Teddy and Kai sheepishly apologized to the professor who kept his agreeable smile.

"Now Mr. Lupin, Mr. Chang since you two have such impressive experience at being our class Pygmi Puffs for demonstrations, I would ask both of you to take a step off of your box to a white square."

Teddy and Kai glanced at one another and then took a tentative step.

"Mr. Lupin guessed correctly," Curr said from the front of the class. "Mr. Chang unfortunately did not."

Kai looked down at his square and then back at the professor. "What? His did the same as mine."

Professor Curr flicked his wand towards the floor and said very loudly, "Aguamenti".

Half of the white squares in the class, including Kai's, turned into rectangular pools of water. In a moment, Kai was up to his knees in water.

"Today we will be working on water transfiguration. A most versatile and useful spell," Curr said.

Kai looked down at his feet, momentarily gobsmacked, then back at Teddy.

"Please help your friend," Professur Curr said brightly to him.

Soon the entire class was working on the squares in front of them. While the students wouldn't learn the full blown Aguamenti Charm for several years (although the older Ravenclaw girls had been working on it with Teddy and his friends at their club meetings) basic transfiguration was another story. Water, in its most transient state, was one of the most basic building blocks out there and one could theoretically change almost anything into it for a brief period of time.

Teddy thought he had made a mistake when instead of the floor turning into a puddle, his wand seemed to drool some water onto the otherwise solid surface. He looked up to find Professor Curr giving him an exasperated look.

"Well it's quite impressive that you've managed the beginning of the Aguamenti Charm," he said. "But of course this is Transfiguration."

Teddy grinned. "Er, right, different theory I should be using."

Curr nodded. "Let's see it then."

Teddy had learned, with Professor Curr's guidance, that the same sort of concentration involved with changing his own appearance was needed for transfigur spell work. He tried to imagine the shape and feel of the floor. If it were his face and he wanted it to become water... Well that was a disgusting idea, but he still immediately understood that he needed to loosen the surface, loosen it, loosen it, loosen it. He stared down at his square which had sunk into a half inch or so of murky, brown water.

Curr gave him a pat on the back. "And you would have gotten it quicker too, if you wouldn't be messing around with that Charms nonsense."

Teddy laughed and then started helping some of his fellow Gryffindor's with the spell. His hazy explanation of theory didn't seem to be much help to them. Nearby Ravenclaws who were listening over their shoulders though quietly went back to work and soon had figured out the Transfiguration themselves.

"Don't get any idea's, Teddy," Colin cautiously said. "If I wake up in a lake of water I know exactly who to blame."

"Maybe you should sleep in one of Hagrid's rafts then," Albus said.

Teddy grinned. "Or you could, I don't know, learn some basic privacy spells." He looked down to see that his feet were in two inches of water.

Colin was grinning. "Or I could, I don't know, learn this spell."

* * *

Thankfully, Teddy was able to get the map from Kai without having to give up that much information. That it was for Violet, that she was still not speaking to Kai, and that he would explain in the near future was enough.

Madame made a rare appearance at dinner that evening and an even rarer appearance at breakfast the following day. He watched her at each meal to try and tell if she was acting any different than normal; the problem of course was that he didn't generally watch her at the few meals she was at and so he wasn't exactly sure what to be on the lookout for.

It wasn't until lunch that Madame was absent again. Teddy pulled the practical map out, made sure that the protective charms were applied and then started searching the various rooms that Madame might be in. Even though everybody (except those keyed into the map) would only see the practical charm on the sheet, he still was wary of pouring over it in public. Sometimes, Teddy was glad he was in the Gryffindor house versus anywhere else. The Slytherin's of course were known for being extremely vigilant of one another. Teddy doubted that he would be able to spend a good deal of time spying on people without being spied on himself at that table. It was seldom pointed out though that the Ravenclaws were also fairly perceptive individuals (perhaps for different reasons) and in similar ways, the Hufflepuff's were very aware of the people close to them. The Gryffindor's seemed to be on the outs in many ways, the last to hear rumors, tactless and clueless.

Teddy spent a good deal more time with people from other houses than his fellow Gryffindor's and felt somewhat guilty thinking along these lines. Sometime he felt like he had less in common with the people he lived with than anybody in the castle, other times he realized that he was the one of his group that wasn't paying close enough attention.

"Why are you always staring at that thing?" Kaitlin said.

Without thinking he spread his hands out to cover most of the map.

"It's for Charms Club right?" she asked.

Teddy didn't remember which practical the Ravenclaws had employed for the illusion but doubted it mattered much here anyway.

"Yes," he answered. "You and Clippy are welcome to attend with me next meeting."

"Are first years allowed?" Clippy asked. He seemed intrigued by the idea.

"I bet the second years can barely do the Charms work," Kaitlin replied. "What would we be able to do?"

As much as he had learned in charms that year, it was true that he and Dewey were well behind the rest of the group. He knew that the only reason Kai kept up with everyone else was because the Ravenclaws could be pretty fiercely competitive within their own house.

At that moment, he noticed a dot blinking between his left pinky and ring finger. Blinking dot's only appeared when a person was moving from one tight spot to another (if a person snuck through a tapestry or through a trick gap in a wall). The strange thing about this dot though was that it was blinking repeatedly, as if the person couldn't decide which room he wanted to be in.

He spread his fingers apart just a bit and saw the name _Muriel Seavelle_ below the dot. It was by the Owlery at the northwest corner of the building. The dot blinked several times and then disappeared altogether.

"Teddy?" Clippy interrupted his viewing. "Did you hear me?"

Teddy looked up at him. He must have looked fairly shaken as Clippy and Kaitlin exchanged a look between themselves. He ignored them though as he hastily rolled up the map, stuffed it in the pocket of his robes and then got up from his seat. He hurried along the back of the great hall in search of the Slytherin table and Violet. Before he could make it over to her seat though, she had gotten up from her table and made her way out of the Great Hall.

She caught him in the lobby a moment later.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. She had been waiting behind one of the entrance doors, apparently having spotted him on his way over and not wanting to speak with him at her table.

Teddy grabbed the map from his pocket and unrolled it in front of them.

"You need your wand," he muttered as he hastily brought his own out and applied the password that would activate the map.

He quickly explained the revealing charm and the accompanying wand movement. Violet attempted it once, twice, getting frustrated on the third. Then...

"Whoa," she said.

"I know, it's pretty wicked. Here's the thing, you see the Owlery up here?"

He tapped the empty area for effect.

"I saw Madame there a minute ago"

"At the owlery?"

"Yes, and the stranger thing was that she was sort of there and sort of not there. Her dot was blinking which means either she was slipping back and forth through a crack in a wall or..."

"Or what?" Violet whispered.

"I don't know," Teddy admitted. "But that's not the half of it. I'm watching her blinking dot and then suddenly she disappears. I wanted to get a better look but-"

Violet grabbed Teddy's shoulder with one hand and jabbed her finger on the map with the other.

"Look!" she said. "In the small office behind the library; it's Madame."

She was right. Madame's dot, her unblinking dot, was the only one in the room.

"There's a table in that room," Violet said. "I've seen professors use it from time to time to study. I bet she's eating lunch there right now."

She looked up at Teddy with a questioning gaze. "Did you check this room before? When the dot was blinking?"

Teddy frowned; he didn't remember one way or the other if he had glanced towards that room.

She nodded, "You're going to have to watch for this again. Make sure there aren't any errors with this magic."

"I've never seen a dot blink like that before," Teddy said to her.

She nodded. "Check with the makers of this to see what they think." Violet shook her head at the expression that had crept onto his face. "Oh come on, don't give me that look, of course there were other creators of this map then you, Dewey, and Kai. Just do me a favor and look into this. I don't want us to lose our heads over something like this."

The doors opened nearby and before Teddy could turn to find out which house the people belonged to Violet had already left him standing by himself in the lobby.

* * *

Although there was a lot on his mind; the mysterious voice that kept appearing behind a certain classroom, the possible goblin informant within Hogwarts, the blinking dot that was Madame, that didn't change the fact that he still had a very busy schedule. After the last flying park evening, Teddy had told everyone that they would meet again in two weeks. He had also added, "We're bound to get caught as it is- don't bring more people," but perhaps he hadn't stressed that enough as there were clearly twice as many people than the previous outing.

"Ok," he heard himself shouting to the crowd of people. Shouting because the group gathered under the net in the room of requirement didn't seem to care whether they got to fly or not. They were very happy talking amongst themselves and bopping each other, and (if he wasn't mistaken) snogging quite forcefully between the bleacher benches.

"OK," he said even louder. How he wished he knew the sonorous spell at that moment. "OK! Get your brooms and fly above the net and we can go over the rules ok? Ok?"

About half of the people there complied with this and soon he found himself hovering in a sea of people above the net.

Colin, one of the many Gryffindor's making his first appearance that evening, looked down questioningly at the large group lounging on the bleachers below.

"So are those guys flying or what?" he asked.

Teddy glanced down and noticed that many of the students below were the sixth and seventh years that spent a good majority of their evening below the net last time. One of them had brought along a box shaped device that a large black disk spun rapidly around causing the box to emit ridiculously loud, bashing Muggle music.

"I have no idea," Teddy yelled back at him. "OK SO HI TO EVERYONE THAT'S NEW," he bellowed to the buzzing group.

From his left Eloise flew over and pointed a wand at his throat. "Sonorous," she said.

Teddy gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks", he said, causing her to wince a bit as his magically amplified voice bellowed into her ear.

"Err. Thanks Ellie. As I was saying, welcome everyone to the flying park."

There were cheers all around, including a roar from the students on the ground.

"I see that people brought guests, which I'm not in favor of..."

This was met with boos from below and laughing from the students around him

"But you're here now," Teddy said with a crooked smile, "so that's that. Anyway, it works out better that if you're doing really stupid tricks and you don't know what you're doing, stay lower and out of people's way. If you're going to drop, don't be a git and fall on top of someone below you, and don't impale anyone ok?"

There were more boos from below, but everyone above seemed antsy after his speech. He bit his lip and shrugged. "Ok, that's all I got."

With that, Leonard and James flew promptly to the ceiling and began the night with a chicken match from opposite ends of the room.

"What did I tell you?" Teddy screamed as a plummeting Leonard nearly fell on top of him. Teddy looked up to see James smirking from the ceiling.

There was a different feeling this evening than there had been the previous two times. This group was much more chaotic, faster, and busier. It felt a bit like a Quidditch match without a Quaffle or Bludger. Just thirty or so seekers buzzing past one another as fast as they could.

Kai had gotten the older Ravenclaw girls to shrink the bicycle into a manageable size and was currently pedaling in large sweeping circles around the room, a huge grin on his face. Dewey, who Teddy noticed hadn't spoken to Eloise during the entire evening, was tagging along with him tonight, the two of them preferring to fly around and idly chat with people.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team, taking advantage of the free practice time, was practicing formation flying. They clearly had some kinks to work out as one of their formations had new beater Colin and fifth year chaser, Margaret McCurry ride right into each other.

Everyone else, twenty people or so, were in a colossal, room wide chase of James.

"Merlin, how long can he keep that up?" Dewey asked Teddy. As the two watched, the young Hufflepuff zoomed right between them before shooting straight for the ceiling with two dozen giggling witches and wizards tearing after him.

"I don't know but if he pulls a stunt like that again I think I'm going to transfigure his broom into a giant stone."

"You would have to get near him first," Dewey said.

Teddy laughed. "You know one thing I was hoping to see tonight? Just whatever the hell Guy Thomas is planning."

Guy Thomas, perhaps being the only person to heed Teddy's advice, had taken a position about fifteen feet above the net. His eyes were focused on the broom in front of him and he appeared to be whispering to himself as he continued his strange downward dive with three rapid corkscrew rolls. At the bottom of the dive he calmly pulled back up to repeat.

"Oi! Guy," Teddy called.

Guy was about to start diving again before he looked up. "Yes?"

"What are you doing?" Dewey asked him.

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"That trick? What do you call it?" Teddy asked.

The students below had either turned the music up because their conversation was so loud or started talking louder because the music was so loud- either way it was deafening that close to the net and Guy motioned for the three of them to fly a bit higher.

When they had found a relatively secluded spot higher above the net Guy said, "I'm sorry, you were asking about the name of a trick?"

Dewey shook his head. "Your trick, that barrel roll thing." He pointed down to where they had been. "What do you call that?"

Guy chuckled. "I wasn't doing a trick. I was trying to figure out something and that was the easiest method to do so."

"Figure out what?" Teddy asked.

"Remember the first night, when James fell from the ceiling?" Guy said. He didn't seem to notice the two boys wincing at the memory. "The rate of acceleration between him and his broom didn't suggest that he could have summoned the broom back to him in time."

"What do you mean summoned? He's a first year," Teddy said.

"Well I don't know exactly how, but the broom was clearly making it's way back to James by a magical pull of sorts. I was just trying to figure out the level of magic needed to overcome that sort of gravitational pull."

"Right..." Dewey said absentmindedly. He sniffed the air once and made a face. "Is that... fire?"

Teddy smelled it too, and had a bad feeling where it was coming from. He flew down below the net and sure enough a small fire was burning at the end of the bleachers. The older students were laughing and whipping what looked like chocolate frog cards at it.

"What the hell?" Teddy yelled at them. He jumped off his broom and ran over but before he could make it to the throng of boys he noticed one of the older Gryffindor's in his house throw a bottle at the fire. There was a blast of fire that nearly reached the net above. The boys were high fiving one another and laughing.

"Hey!" Teddy yelled, trying to push his way through the group to talk to them.

"That's not even the strongest firewhiskey," one of the boys said.

"Hey!" Teddy yelled again. He grabbed the wrist of another boy who was getting ready to throw another bottle.

The boy jerked his arm away from Teddy and lifted his other hand into a fist.

Teddy pulled his wand out but before the boy could land a punch, the seventh year Puff, Pierce, ran between the two of them. He was moving strangely, in a sort of run and hop, as the back of his robes were on fire.

"Someone with a wand," he yelled. "Aguamenti! Aguamenti this!"

The students hanging out around the bleachers didn't seem to notice the wizard running past them.

Teddy raced over to him, his wand out, and did the first thing that came to his head. He transfigured the floor in front of him into a puddle.

Pierce stumbled into the hole. He wasn't expecting to drop a half a foot down and barely had time to brace himself as he plummeted forward.

Guy and Dewey got to him first, he was breathing hard and clutching one of his wrists with the opposite hand. The two gently pulled him out of the puddle and had him sit on a hovering broom. A crowd of people had gathered around them all looking concerned.

"Alright," Teddy said to them after staring angrily at the seventh year boys in the back of the group, "We're done here. I'm not doing this again."

Everyone stood there as if waiting for him to say more.

"I'm not being a diversion either tonight. Good luck getting back."


	20. Chapter 20 Follow What Directions?

**Chapter 20****: Follow What Directions?**

The Gryffindor second years were in the washroom, brushing their teeth and preparing for the day. Albus, looking back and forth at everyone in the mirror said, "Does anyone else think it's strange that there hasn't been an attack in weeks and they are still keeping us in lock down?"

Not only had their not been any recent attacks at Gringotts or Diagon Alley, but there hadn't been an attack on Hogwarts in months. With the winter weather finally starting to recede, it seemed that the Goblin's were relenting.

"I don't really care anymore," Colin answered. "Quidditch is back and we can't go to Hogsmede anyway."

Teddy ignored the looks of his dorm mates and put his toothbrush away. He knew that this was their way of asking him what he knew of the lockdown. That they suspected as Harry Potter's godson he was privy to the Auror's discussions. This was not the first time they had tried such maneuvers.

"Seriously Teddy," Albus said, abandoning all pretenses. "Why are they still panicked?"

"I'm as confused as you guys," he said. "I haven't spoken to Harry since winter break."

Colin slapped him on the back. "That can't be a bad thing." He ignored the annoyed expression on Teddy's face. "Is he and the rest of your family going to be at the game tonight?"

Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were playing in the first of the Great Hall Quidditch series. It was somewhat of a dumb question considering the castle was still on lockdown. Still, Teddy couldn't help but be cheered by the inordinate amount of enthusiasm Colin had for the coming game.

He shook his head. "I'm pretty sure no one else is going to be allowed in."

Even this didn't discourage him though as Colin laughed. "Right, well the house will be there and that's all that I care about."

* * *

The talk throughout the Great Hall that morning was on the upcoming match. The staff had already fortified the upper 2/3 of the hall with the protective shell. On the wall closest to the Gryffindor table hung a massive house banner, and on the opposite wall hung the Ravenclaw banner.

Teddy noticed in the excitement of the morning that Seavelle was not at breakfast. He had given the map back to the Ravenclaw girls after the last flying park night to have them look into the strange blinking dot problem. He had been meaning the past few days to retrieve it but only seemed to remember when he was at meals or in classes with the Slytherins.

Violet certainly hadn't forgotten about it. She raised her eyebrows when he met her at Potions that morning. He shook his head once. She didn't look happy about this but also didn't say anything more.

Their table had gotten a bit more civil in the past few weeks as whatever enmity that had occurred between Stephen and her since the winter dance had gone away. Teddy hadn't asked her about it (as he clearly remembered Violet's reaction to Kai asking about her various relationships) but he was happy all the same. Now that everyone got along again, their group seemed to be much more efficient.

They were continuing work today on a potion that Seavelle and Montap had been instructing them about over the past two weeks. Like Neville's lesson on identifying a mystery plant, the point behind this exercise was figuring out what they were creating. Neville's plant had turned out to be the Brazilian Darkness Shrub, a playful assignment of his where the plants required absolute darkness in order to grow (the "winner" of the assignment had admitted to forgetting about the plant and discovering a few days later a shrub growing in the bottom of his bag). Their ongoing potions project, on the other hand, was a fairly complex process that kept the entire class guessing as to what they were making.

Madame had not yet arrived for class and per usual, Fernius was addressing everyone from his spot in the front of the room.

"By classes end on Friday, if you have brewed your potions correctly, then they should be complete," he said. He raised his eyebrows at the class and gave them his usual smirk.

"If you have made any major blunders along the way, that gives you two days to rectify the situation."

Teddy wondered how they were supposed to know if they committed an error if they didn't know what they were brewing. He noticed the frowns from the other students around him but also noticed that neither Stephen nor Violet seemed concerned.

Fernius waited for a moment to see if anyone would question this. When no one did he flipped his wand in the direction of the board behind him and revealed the day's notes.

"These are the final instructions for the potion; it should take half of the class to complete. The remainder of this class and Friday's entire session will be devoted to finding out exactly what is wrong with your potion."

Now Violet and Stephen did look unsettled. It seemed they both suspected that they had done everything correct thus far.

"And yes," Fernius said. "Madame and I have been watching and no one's potion in this or the other second year's class would pass."

Now Violet and Stephen definitely looked crestfallen as did the other Slytherins in the front of the room. Fernius paused, for a moment the amused and challenging grin on his face vanished and he looked a bit pitying at the class.

"One of the first things I learned when I began my apprenticeship with Madame was that anyone could follow instructions from a book. A goblin could follow instructions from a book- that's not real potions work. Our magical abilities grant us certain senses and intuitions that allow us to manipulate the world around us."

With that said, the smirk came back to his face. He took a seat at his desk, grabbed the scroll that he sometimes read during class and promptly ignored everybody.

Panic mode seemed to have set in for the class as the students actually raced over to the cupboards to secure their ingredients. Stephen returned shortly with his arms full of supplies.

"You could have made two trips," Teddy told him.

Violet was grabbing the ingredients from him and started sorting everything out on the table.

The three worked silently, Teddy dicing the onion root into straws, Stephen measuring the same crushed beetle powder into precise grams over and over, and Violet adjusting the level of their fire so it was at the exact temperature.

"You know," Teddy said after a moment. "We're not helping ourselves by rushing to finish this."

"I don't get it," Violet said, ignoring his statement entirely. "We've followed their directions exactly. I've triple checked every step we've taken. We haven't made a mistake all year."

"She said we made a mistake, then we made a mistake," Stephen said softly without looking up.

Violet gave the fire she was working on an irritated look but did not comment further.

Soon the three of them had completed the day's instructions. Throughout the past few weeks their potion had largely not changed from its thick, gooey, purplish origins. The consistency of the potion as well as the surprisingly citrus scent had remained basically the same despite the incredible array of mashed bones, diced plants and fruits, and fluids of many different animals. The only difference with this final potion was that it was a bit bluer in shade, as if the potion had bruised during it's creation.

"So... now what?" Teddy asked.

Violet and Stephen shared a look but did not answer. They both went into their bags and pulled out their potion texts which they began to read.

"Oh," he said. He pulled out his own book but it was a half-hearted gesture as he had no idea what they would be looking for. They had spent many evenings that year grilling each other on the common ingredients and bases they would cover in class and, between the three of them, had already skimmed through every potion in the book. If there was one that took weeks to prepare, that had this extraordinary variety of materials involved, and that resembled anything like the one they were working with, then surely they would know what it was.

He put the book down and sat back in his chair. Both Stephen and Violet were ignoring him now and seemed absorbed in pouring through their own notes. He stared ahead at the cauldron, watching the large, greasy bubbles that formed and popped at the surface... It was sort of hypnotic, a dark ever gurgling surface; while it wasn't beautiful or even pleasant, he found the liquid to oddly draw him in.

He had a funny feeling that he was being watched and when he looked up he noticed that Madame Seavelle had arrived to class and was indeed watching him. She smiled back at him and then gave but the smallest shake of her head to Violet on her right. Teddy glanced at Violet who was still reading the book and then back towards Seavelle but she was gone, doing her table rounds.

"I think," Teddy whispered to Violet. "That Madame was trying to tell me something."

Violet and Stephen set their books down.

"She saw me looking at the potion and then motioned that I should talk to you."

"Why?" Stephen asked.

"I think we're supposed to stare at the potion and that will tell us what we need to know."

The Slytherins looked doubtful at this but scooted forward with him anyway as all three of them got within inches of the surface of the potion. With his face this close to the potion, Teddy could feel the heat radiating off his cheeks. The citrus smell was sweeter than he remembered it and left an oddly minty trace in his nose. But the most noticeable attribute this close was in the bubbles that grew and popped at the surface. When he had thought they were greasy before, he noticed now that the outlines of the bubbles seemed to be tens of thousands of miniscule bubbles. They seemed to be nothing but a vast collection of bubbles really. Swelling together and then breaking apart. Over and over and over. And while this sort of development might not normally seem all that unusual in the creation of the potion, he very strongly suspected that in this potion it was not the way things were supposed to work. Why he thought this, he had no idea, but he was certain of it nevertheless.

He glanced up at Violet and Stephen and each of them seemed to have an identical look of realization on their faces.

"The bubbles right?" he whispered to them.

They looked confused at this and then shrugging, Violet pulled a spoon off of their supply tray, grabbed a spoonful of the potion and placed it in her mouth.

"What are you doing?" Teddy demanded.

He said it louder than he intended and several students around had turned to look, but Teddy didn't really care. He noticed that Stephen was carefully watching the spoon in Violet's hand as if he too needed to taste the potion. Violet didn't respond to him but instead closed her eyes for a moment and then sat back in her chair.

"Violet," Teddy said shaking her a bit.

Stephen grabbed the spoon from her and was about to put it in the cauldron when Teddy smacked it out of his hand. "I said watch the potion, not bloody eat it. Watch her- I'm going to get Fernius."

"She's ok," Stephen said.

"You don't know that," Teddy snapped back.

"I'm ok," Violet said back although her voice had an oddly dreamy cadence to it.

Teddy wasn't sure anyone could know that after trying a random potion but relented.

"Fine," he said. "But still, no one else needs to try that potion alright? We can figure out what we need from your reactions."

He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Seavelle had made her way around the room and was standing at the table to their left. Her back was to them but he would have bet fifty galleons that her attention was on their conversation.

At that moment Violet had begun bobbing her head slowly back and forth as if a slow and lovely melody was playing just for her. She had closed her eyes again but the look on her face suggested she was extremely content.

"Ok, so some sort of happiness potion? A fairly strong one?" Teddy asked Stephen.

Stephen shook his head. "I've read through some of the third year potions text and the happiness potions they cover don't look anything like this. Plus they leave the person somewhat giddy and alert, like if you ate too much candy. She looks like her mom when she has too much firewhiskey."

At any other time, a comment like this, near so many Slytherins (not to mention Madame!), would have set Violet off. She merely shook her head once though, like she had a tickle on her nose that she was trying to shake away, before she resumed her dreamy movements.

"Well... if it's not happiness," Teddy said slowly. "Is it a calming draught? A serenity potion?"

Stephen was flipping quickly through his book and marked a page with his finger before flipping to another page. He showed them to Teddy. Calming Draught, Serenity Potion. Nothing whatsoever like what they worked on.

And even as Teddy was throwing out these ideas he suspected that none of them were correct; that those types of potions were all similar to each other and nothing like the one they worked on; that the potion that he found himself staring at had a very different makeup and a caused quite a different pull.

"You know what..." Stephen said, setting the book down and staring once again at the surface of the potion. "It doesn't seem like this potion has anything to do with feeling good. It almost feels like..."

He stopped and shook his head.

"What?"

"It sounds crazy."

Teddy frowned, would it be as crazy as the idea that had formed in his head? "What?" he repeated.

"Well the idea that I keep thinking about is Imperious... The lack of control people are supposed to feel when they are under that curse."

Teddy's heart seemed to skip a bit at this. It was exactly the word that had popped into his own mind. Were they brewing an Imperious Potion? And if so, who would Violet be under?

He put his hands on either side of Violet's face and shook her a number of times so that her bangs whipped back and forth across her face.

This was a brave but ultimately stupid idea. The second the dreaminess left her eyes and her normal sharp gazed returned, her own hands were pushing him quite forcefully backwards where he landed painfully on his bum, his head underneath the potions table behind him.

"You... Stupid... Gryffindor... Prat," she said.

Teddy sighed and lay back for a second before reaching the offered hand in front of him. As he got to his feet he realized that the hand belonged to Seavelle.

* * *

Teddy got his first detention of the year from that class. Not because he had stood up, pointed at Madame and said, "What did you give us?" Not because he had then said, "Sleeping Potions the first week back and then whatever this is?" No, he got his detention because he had demanded that the two professors explain what they were making. "Because if we are making..."

He never did say what type of potion he was accusing them of. He couldn't quite bring himself to actually say it out loud. And as he was standing there, red faced and pointing, he began to wonder what sort of punishment Seavelle and Fernius would get for teaching such a thing. And of course the realization that while he had heard a great deal about the various Unforgivables, he had never heard about a potion that would replicate one. Not to mention they were second years and likely wouldn't be able to complete such a potion if it did exist. All of these thoughts pinged around inside his mind and for a moment he just angrily stared back at the exasperated professors.

When no one said anything though he said, "I think it's only right you tell us what we tested."

Seavelle narrowed her eyes at him; she used the same dangerous tone that she had used in the first Potions class of the year.

"You may remove yourself from the room Mr. Lupin. One of my elves will see you on your way out to schedule a detention."

Thankfully, it wasn't Rowley who met him outside the class (he had no idea what the other three elves were named). Madame didn't care what night he chose it, the work would be in the library and would last as long as the project demanded. At the moment, Teddy was too angry to ask what the sort of work would be, instead he told the elf that he would be there this coming Sunday evening. "Would he still be expected in class in two days?" he asked the elf. The elf gave his own annoyed nod and then apparated away.

He had fumed the rest of the day and was still angry when he took his seat in the Great Hall that evening for the Gryffindor/Ravenclaw Quidditch match.

"Smile Lupin," said Vin as he passed Teddy's row in the crowded Gryffindor bleachers. Vin said this with no smile on his own face, as if he was willing his own nervous energy out through positive encouragement.

Teddy ignored the advice though, shooting his glare up towards the ceiling where frantic professors on their own broom sticks were zooming around the walls and ceiling to double and triple check that the protective barrier was properly fastened.

"Like anyone will notice if a bludger puts a mark in the wall up there anyway," Albert noted.

Teddy joined the other second years nearby in laughter.

"How was Colin doing?" asked April.

"Once he's on his broom he should be fine," said Albert. "Until then I would say he's a minute from puking."

The girls made disgusted noises while Teddy and the guys grinned at the image. Julie, April, and their fellow second year girls Heidi Day and Michelle Honeycutt had painted Gryffindor Lions on each of their cheeks and had tied scarlet and gold ribbons into their hair. They had also decided (apparently as a group) that they would wear Muggle style scarlet shirts with long gold undershirts underneath. They looked like a peppier and cleaner version of the punkers.

"When is your detention?" Heidi asked Teddy.

This was the first time since class that anyone had broached the subject and everyone turned to him in interest.

"Sunday," Teddy replied. "I'm going to be doing library work."

"What did you say to them that got them so mad?" Julie asked.

Teddy gave her a puzzled look. "Didn't you hear?"

She and everyone else shook their heads.

"They must have put a privacy charm on you because I didn't catch anything that was said. I could see you that you were yelling at them though."

Teddy felt his cheeks color at this statement. He had been right about the Gryffindor's being the last to find stories out though.

"I thought that the potion we were brewing was..." he struggled to find the right word, "dark."

"Dark?" Albert repeated.

Teddy nodded.

"And you said that?" Julie asked him.

Teddy looked up towards the ceiling and found that the professors were still tinkering with their barrier.

"I asked them if it was the potion I thought it was, said pretty much the same thing I said in the first class of the year, and then demanded that they tell me what the Potion was."

The second years stared back at him, most with their mouths hanging open in shock.

"Is this match ever going to start?" he asked, looking back towards the ceiling.

Soon enough, the match did start. Thom Waters, a Hufflepuff fifth year that had attended the last Flying Park evening, was announcing this year.

"Alright," his voice boomed around the Great Hall, "I'm being told that protective measures are now in place, which means... Welcome to the first ever Indoor Quidditch Series!"

The students roared their approval from their respective bleachers.

It was bizarre to watch the Great Hall doors all shoot open at the same time and then watch fourteen students on brooms shoot on through. Each player flew to the center of the room and then straight up.

Thom reminded the crowd that the measurements were the same as the Quidditch pitch but this was hard to believe as it felt as if the players would be flying right in front of their faces.

Teddy noticed that many of the students in the top rows of the other bleachers were moving farther down away from the action.

A whistle blew and the balls were released. For a second Teddy and the rest of the crowd followed the snitch from its path on the ground, upwards. The seekers went off after it and, from what Teddy could tell anyway, would spend the remainder of the game combing through the protective shield. He could see that each one would occasionally stop at a section of the wall and stick their arm into the barrier, root around a bit and then fly away.

Because the seekers were relatively immobile in the game (at least compared to normal seeker play) each team had one of their beaters tag along with them to keep both aimed and wild bludger attacks away. Colin was doing this work for the Gryffindor team. He was playing pretty well this evening, knocking all the incoming bludgers away. He managed to hit one bludger into the Ravenclaw seeker. The seeker angrily dipped away and patrolled a different part of the barrier.

The Gryffindor team had excellent chasers but their keeper was admittedly awful. Colin had suggested to the guys in Teddy's dorm that the only way they would be able to win was if they kept the quaffle out of the other team's hands for most of the game. They were doing a decent job at this at first, going up 70 to 10 in the first ten minutes of the game. Unfortunately for Gryffindor though, Ravenclaw had one seeker that seemed to really wake up at this point of the game.

Mary, one of the fourth year creator's of the practical map, turned out also to be their most skilled flyer. Teddy had noticed during the Flying Park nights that Mary was more graceful on the broom than the other Ravenclaw girls. He hadn't realized that she was holding back- a lot back. Mary seemed to dart from spot to spot like a deer. One moment two seekers would be blocking her path, the next she would be underneath them, then around them, then pumping a fist in the air because she had just scored another goal.

"Nice one," Teddy yelled the first time she scored.

"Wrong house," April had shot back at him.

He clapped when she scored her second goal, the only person in the section to do so. Teddy noticed that Dewey, over in the Hufflepuff section, was shaking his head and laughing at him. He rolled his eyes at the Hufflepuff and mouthed, "I can't help it."

Dewey laughed some more.

Just before the one hour mark, with Ravenclaw leading 130 to 120, the two seekers each spotted the snitch. Actually, everyone playing spotted the snitch as it had flown directly into the center of the game. One seeker, perhaps thinking it was a pestering bug, had actually swatted it away from his face. Everyone on brooms but the seekers stopped moving, causing the seekers to have to bob and weave through the various players to catch the snitch.

The Ravenclaw seeker was faster and caught the snitch right before it made it to the obscurity of the protective barrier.

"Ravenclaw wins!" yelled Thom. "They will move on to the championship in two weeks against the winner of the Hufflepuff/Slytherin game." The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins cheered wildly at their own name. The Ravenclaws were still cheering wildly since the end of the game. The Gryffindor section were the only quiet ones. Being in a single elimination tournament suddenly seemed a lot less fun to them.

* * *

All in all, it was a pretty bad day for Teddy. When he returned to his common room later that evening it seemed like everyone was now in as bad of a mood as he was earlier.

"That damn shield," Raul, the fifth year seeker, said as he punched a wall in frustration. "It was like Swiss cheese. The snitch probably spent half the game buzzing around in there."

The nearby students nodded in sympathy. Teddy felt bad for him but it seemed like a minor point considering both teams had to deal with the same problem.

"We get one game and that's it," he went on. "It's ridiculous."

Everyone was drinking their own mugs of butterbeer (part of a reserve that the seventh years maintained and had set aside in anticipation of a Gryffindor win that evening), giving the room the feel of a very bitter party. The Quidditch players, besides Raul, had their own spots in front of the fire place. They sat in silence, staring into the coals.

Colin, who was seated on a stool besides the couch, turned around and searched the various faces of the room until he saw Teddy.

"Your friend had a pretty good game huh?" he said.

Teddy narrowed his eyes at him and nodded.

"Did they invite you over to their celebration tonight?"

They actually had. He had made his way over to Mary after the game to congratulate her on her flying and in the process the three Ravenclaw girls and Kai had all gushed about a victory party that he should attend. This didn't seem like a smart thing to bring up at the moment though so he shrugged in answer.

"You can go ahead," Colin went on. "You did your part sitting with us and holding onto that poster for a bit."

"Ok- that's enough," Teddy said. "I support our house, I cheered for you especially. I don't need to apologize for cheering for any other friends of mine."

"It's Quidditch, Lupin," said Raul from his perch next to the fire. "We cheer for our house during games. You can tell your other friends later that they did great."

Teddy opened his mouth to protest but noticed that all of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, as well as the rest of the house that was gathered nearby was looking at him with the same, disapproving look. His rage from Potions class had been bubbling near the surface all day, but he now felt exhausted and unsure.

"Alright," he allowed. "Next time I will make sure to just cheer for Gryffindor."

"You can cheer your mates on in Charms Club," Colin said.

The tension in the room seemed to completely lift with this comment as everyone was laughing at the idea that Teddy would hang out in Charms Club. The students laughed even harder when they found out he actually was a member of the club. Any other evening, he might find the humor in the situation and laugh with them. He wasn't feeling like that tonight though. Without another word he left to go to bed.

Hours later, he awoke to find someone tugging on his sleeve.

"Teddy. Hey- Teddy?"

He opened his eyes a bit and said in the most polite way he could at the moment, "What do you want?"

"It's Colin."

Teddy sighed, rolled over to his other side and tried to get back to sleep. He heard the other boy run to the other side of the bed though and felt him lean in to whisper.

"Yeah, I know you are sleeping and don't want to talk right now so I'm just going to quickly say it. Thank you."

Teddy opened his eyes now to look at the grinning Gryffindor. "For what?"

Colin looked at the other beds in the pitch black room in a vague attempt to see if anyone else was listening.

"In the common room, after you left, Sophia came over and sat next to me on the couch. I had the longest conversation of my entire life with her."

Teddy closed his eyes. "About what?"

"Well you at first. About how you were being kind of sulky this evening but how it was probably about that loony Potions Class... And then we talked about the Quidditch team and what we need to get better..."


	21. Chapter 21 Punishment and Crime

**Chapter 21****: Punishment and Crime**

Everybody was talking about one thing. _The_ _Sixth Years_.

"They filled the entire health wing! There literally weren't any beds left. They had to conjure some from guest rooms. They're driving Madame Pomfree sparse."

"I heard she's actually turning people away at the door. She told one of ours that the blood clotting charm was an OWL level spell that he should already know."

"Did he know?"

"Maddell? He's an idiot—of course he didn't. She pointed him back where he came from and he had to run around our common room and find someone who would help. His white shirt was ruined."

- and -

"Apparently we aren't allowed into certain parts of the library anymore."

"The Punkers?"

"The Punkers take up half the tables, Slytherins and Ravenclaws share the other ones. Then, last night, the Gryffindor's decided they deserved the other table."

"Are they studying or?..."

"I don't know. Does it matter? They supposedly are all fighting with each other- it seems like they all want to just sit across the room and stare at one another."

and -

"Pierce and the Ursula- can you believe it?"

"That's just a rumor. I can't believe you do."

"No, it's true. Even the Slytherin's admit to it. Not that they would want to."

"And they were found naked in the kitchens? Llewelyn found the two of them naked in the kitchens?"

"Well... I doubt that's true. There are like one hundred house elves in there. That's gross."

and -

"They're drunk. They're all drunk. All of them..."

"I know! Every night in the common room."

"Have you walked down the hallways with them? During the middle of the day and they smell like the three broomsticks. They smell like the Hogs Head."

"I heard they got Professor Rai to join them the other day."

"I heard they got Dr Babbit."

- but mostly it was -

"The Slytherin sixth years (or the Hufflepuff sixth years depending on what house you are from) are planning something big and it would happen before the match."

It was hard not to get caught up in it to some extent and Teddy and his friends were no exception.

"...and Pierce probably won't be coming to anymore of these meetings. At least as long as he is with Ursula," Kai added with a grin. "I mean some Punker right?"

Dewey rolled his eyes. "I seriously doubt he would be forbidden to attend a Muggle Science Club night. And that's if they really are dating."

"You live with them and don't know if they are dating?" Teddy asked him.

The three were supposed to be attempting to distill a potion into various gasses but none of them were paying much attention to the beakers and flasks in front of them.

"Well I don't really talk to the sixth years," Dewey admitted. "I don't ask them if they are dating the enemy anyway."

Kai snorted at this. He had been in a very good mood since Ravenclaw's win the previous week. So had the girls—who had insisted that they do some Charms studying in the Inter-house Common Room. This had turned out to be more of a gossip session about the various goings on between the other two houses but it had lifted Teddy's own spirits after his detention on Sunday evening.

"Anyway the rest of them aren't here either," Dewey said gesturing to the empty tables near the front of the room where the sixth year Hufflepuff's usually sat. "Are they all in secret relationships?"

"I bet they are trying to expose Pierce and the enemy—take a picture and distribute it to the Slytherian common room," Kai said.

"Well, the Slytherins could do the same thing to them," Teddy reasoned.

Kai shook his head. "Like the Punker's care what the others think of them."

"Pierce seems to. He hasn't wanted anyone to see him and Ursula," Teddy said.

"We don't know that they are dating!" Dewey shot back.

His response was far more insistent and defensive than Dewey normally sounded. Like it was imperative that someone point out that Pierce and Ursula hadn't been spotted in public. Teddy and Kai glanced at one another and then started laughing. Dewey sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Does anyone know what we are supposed to be doing?" he said.

Teddy picked up a beaker and shook it slightly. "Nope."

"Nope," said a voice from behind him.

They all turned to find Dr. Babbit already moving past their table. Not pausing even to see if his words registered, his tone sounding very much like he could care less whether they actually got the experiment or not. Like their not taking it seriously was quite foolish, but rather their own loss.

None of the three spoke for a moment before Dewey whispered, "you're lucky he doesn't give out detentions. Imagine your grandmum if you had two in two weeks."

Teddy was more curious about what Harry might say about his getting a detention from Babbit. He hadn't spoken to his Godfather in a while and had no idea what the American's professor's current standing was with the Aurors.

Kai picked up the beaker that Teddy had shaken and was giving it a careful look. "Knowing you, it would probably be an easy detention though. Another night of organizing library books."

"It wasn't organizing library books," Teddy said for what felt like the fifth time since that previous weekend. "It was reading the first pages of scrolls until I found the ones she was looking for."

"What torture," Dewey said.

Madame had surprised Teddy that Sunday by showing up for his detention. He had been expecting one of her house elves or even the librarian to just hand him some instructions. She was waiting for him when he got there; her attention, as ever, was in a long scroll in front of her.

After a moment of waiting near her and not getting her attention, he coughed.

She glanced up at him, taking her small glasses off and letting them dangle from the multicolored cord around her neck. "Mr. Lupin- I'm glad to see you. If I had to dig through one more of these texts myself I think I might scream."

Any unpleasantness Teddy might have expected from her was absent in her tone and on her face.

"I'm going to dig through these books?" he asked her.

Madame smiled and handed the scroll she was looking at to him. "These books, and these scrolls, and these letters, and magazines. We've got a lot to get through."

His eyes must have boggled when he realized that she was referring to the stacks surrounding her. He had assumed they were just books to be sorted as they started at the floor and came to the table level.

"You're not going to be reading everything of course; just selectively skimming for any mention of the transfiguration of air." As she said this she was grabbing various books and papers from the piles and handing it to him. She paused for a moment. "I've been researching the transfigurative aspects of air for a while now. Fascinating subject. It covers everything from how a spell moves through the air to how wizards apparate."

Teddy nodded and grabbed one of the books from the pile she was creating in the center of the table. It was a Journal of Transfiguration Studies (he vaguely recalled that Professor Curr had been noted at the arrival feast as regularly contributing to it). None of the articles seemed to have anything directly to do with air, though.

"Dr. Babbit had mentioned a reference spell," Teddy said.

Madame's nose wrinkled at the mention of the name. She nodded though. "Yes, that is a very useful spell for finding key terms. Unfortunately no one really refers to this study simply as the Transfiguration of Air."

"So what do they call it?" Teddy asked.

"Academics are... precious with their personal areas of study. They balk at the notion of simplifying anything just so the masses might get it. It sounds arrogant I know, but I think it's more that the researchers devote their lives to something, and the idea of removing the subtleties seems to bludgeon that effort. Look for general articles on the transfigurative qualities or articles that look at magic's relation to matter."

Teddy nodded. She didn't want to say it, but it was a shot in the dark that they might stumble on it, and she simply wanted someone else to help her manage the ridiculous amount of materials. The two sat down in silence and began to read.

They read for a bit, flipped a page, read a bit more, flipped a page, read more, started a new book, a new scroll. They did this for quite a while. Finally Teddy set his book down.

"Do you seriously do this all the time?" he asked. He hadn't meant to sound so impertinent and hastily added, "Madame."

Madame set her own book down and smiled at the question. It was the same, half smile/half challenge that Fernius would use with them. He had the distinct impression that she was withholding a joke that he would very much like to know.

"Do you mean, do I spend all my time researching the Transfiguration of Air or just that I spend all my time researching?" she asked.

Teddy smiled sheepishly and shrugged. He was embarrassed and not for the first time wished that he could keep his mouth shut when around Madame.

"I try to keep myself busy on a number of subjects at any given time. Besides Transfiguration, I've been researching the goblin insurrections of the past. I've been looking into an outdated style of charmwork that operates much the same as our protean charms, and, since that debate with Dr. Babbit, I've started looking into a number of muggle publications."

She bit her lip and gave her own shrug. "So as to the other question, yes, I do spend almost all my time doing this sort of thing."

Teddy knew that she spent a good deal of time studying, but he was impressed with the extent of it. In an odd way, it was comforting to know the extent of her academic curiousity. It made the two experiences in class, the suspicious potions they had brewed, seem less problematic. She seemed like the type of person who simply wanted to learn about as much as possible, and possibly, that she didn't realize how strange she might seem to others. An impulse came to him that he should somehow question her on her strange blinking dot Owlery behavior from a week ago (without mentioning the map or a dot of course).

"So let me ask you a question, Mr. Lupin," she said, bringing him out of his own thoughts. "When you said an unforgivable type potion, I assume you meant either Imperious or Crucio, correct?"

Teddy winced and then nodded.

"Well... What makes you think it was one of those two types?"

She said this with the same half-smile, half-challenge that she had used before and if there was a joke that she wasn't saying out loud, he would guess that it was, "how could you possibly believe I either could or would ask a second year class to brew such a potion."

"I had gotten the impression that to figure out what was wrong with the potion, we would need to get up close and study it." He didn't point out that she was the one who gave him that impression although she nodded anyway to this.

"Violet and Stephen took it a step further. They wanted to... well, to taste the potion, which had seemed strange, probably because they are careful Slytherin types that generally wouldn't launch themselves into unknown potions."

Madame seemed to listen intently but did not comment.

"I was worried when Violet took the potion and so I stopped Stephen from doing it to. Again though, he was acting strange, because he really wanted to try the potion for himself, like it was calling him to it."

"Calling?" Madame asked.

Teddy nodded. "But then Violet started to act... well I have never seen her like that before. And neither had Stephen... And we started to talk about it, between Stephen, Violet, and I we really have looked over all the potions for this year and next."

Madame beamed at this news. "That's wonderful."

"Right," Teddy said. "Thanks, but I meant that we had gone over all the potions that might make a person act that way. Love Potions, sleeping draughts, calming draughts, even things like firewiskey or muggleweed."

The smile on Madame's face faltered a bit at this.

"And soon we both realized that none of those things made sense, but we both had a scary thought of something that did fit Violet's strange mood."

"The Imperious," Madame said. "Well, that makes much more sense to me. And..." she paused for a moment, closing her eyes as if to work something out in her own mind. "You have now reminded me twice this year, that I have not put enough thought into this unique community."

Teddy squirmed a bit at this.

"Of course, you would be more aware of the dangers of the Imperious curse. Growing up in a family of prominent Aurors."

"I suppose," Teddy said.

"And is Ms. Parkinson also aware of that type of curse?"

Teddy squirmed again at this, but this time for a different reason. The half smile seemed to slink off of Madame's face and all that remained were her calculating eyes and a challenging expression.

"We've never discussed it," he said.

"I think she would be," she added.

"Why is that, Madame?"

Madame worked absently on a thread that was coming loose on her collar as she talked.

"Well for starters, she's in Slytherin and unfortunately everyone in that house ends up learning about those types of curses before the rest of the school. She's also the daughter of a fairly prominent member among Voldemort's followers, which is not to say that she or any of her family have continued any sort of embracement of that movement, just that she would be aware of their legacy. And lastly, she is an extremely sharp young woman who picks things up from people around her."

For a long moment, while Madame continued to tug at the thread on her collar, Teddy chewed on the statement she had just made. It seemed she was asking his opinion of the Slytherins, of the Malfoy's, of Violet herself. But most of all it seemed she was challenging him to ask her "exactly who are you referring to when you say she picks things up from people around her." From you? From my Godfather? From her family? And what do you think about that?"

And the more he wondered about these questions the more strange it seemed that Seavelle would be posing them in the first place. How strange she could be from moment to moment-he wondered just why exactly he hadn't spoken to the Ravenclaw's about her suspiciously blinking dot. Much less why he hadn't gotten the map back from them to resume watching her location.

Madame stared back at him for a moment to see if he would answer her statement. After a moment, when he didn't, she picked up the book she was working on. He picked up his, they worked the rest of the evening in silence.

* * *

"So you and Madame had a study date," Kai continued, with a smirk at the expression on Teddy's face. "And Violet won't talk to any of us now?"

"I would have guessed that she would at least ask you about what you and Madame talked about at your detention," Dewey said.

"One would think," Teddy said.

"Since when has holding grudges been a Slytherin trait?" Kai asked. He shrugged at the looks of disbelief on their faces. "Sneakiness, being able to lie with a straight face, befriending the most powerful people, that's Slytherin. Pouting, putting her classmates feelings above her own, using guilt trips, those traits..."

"Don't say it," Dewey said.

Kai directed his smirk at him. "It seems like you have already reached the conclusion I had."

"I'm glad you three managed to reach some sort of conclusion," Dr. Babbit said, once again catching them off guard. He had a box with him that he was using to collect each group's supplies from that evening.

Teddy picked up the beaker they had neglected for a good part of the evening. He glanced at it and then back at Babbit.

"I don't suppose we can finish this on our own time?" he offered.

Babbit took the beaker from him and shook his head slightly. Teddy wasn't sure but he thought he heard the professor snort a little on the way back to his desk.

Outside the classroom, the halls were relatively quiet at the late hour. Although exams were still a good two months away, Teddy had noticed that many of the students were favoring their own Common Rooms to the comparably noisy Inter-house Common Room, Library, and Great Hall Quidditch pitch. He suspected most people did this because the sixth years had made these areas incomprehensibly chaotic and loud . It was rather nice to be able to move about through empty halls though.

Teddy, Kai, and Dewey's tranquil walk back was short lived however as they had barely rounded the corner outside the muggle science classroom when they found Kaitlin waiting for them.

"There you are!" she said.

Teddy was forcefully reminded of their first meeting on the train. Like back then, the first year witch was rapidly tapping her wand against her right leg. Tonight though the wand was emitting little sparks every time they connected with her robe.

"How did you find us?" Teddy asked.

Kaitlin ignored him. "Where are the rest of the Puffs?" she said, looking at Dewey.

Dewey shrugged and gave Teddy a look that plainly said, _this is your problem not mine._

"Kaitlin, if this is about the sixth years, then just leave it alone," Teddy said.

She grabbed Dewey's arm though, and started leading him away.

"It's not about them, although they certainly aren't helping any."

* * *

She led them down the stairs, past the first floor, down a corridor, only stopping when they arrived at a tapestry of a bowl of fruit.

"Go on then," she said and she shooed them like someone might to a stray animal.

"Kaitlin..." Teddy said again but this time she grabbed his arm and pulled him up to the painting.

"I know you guys know how to get in there. So go ahead."

Teddy was surprised that Kaitlin had not already learned the method to access the kitchen. She had known about the Room of Requirement after all, and hung out with a crowd of people that would seem interested in this sort of thing. He was curious though what lay ahead and so he pawed at the pear in the painting.

The portrait opened up and the scene inside made his jaw drop.

When people describe food fight they've participated in, it generally meant a few people towards the end of a meal throwing their table scraps recklessly away from them. They usually didn't last very long, maybe one-tenth of the time that people screamed about the thrown food.

The Hogwarts kitchen that night was a very different story. This wasn't a food fight, it was culinary chaos. Leonard, James, and a number of other Hufflepuffs he recognized were so covered with food, it was impossible to tell them apart. Teddy only realized it was them because Kaitlin had immediately started yelling their various names to get going right now.

The wizards ignored her though, they were going to the desert tables and grabbing a pie in their hands before running back into the fray. The poor house elves were standing at nearby tables and working tirelessly to create more pies for the table.

"What is going on?" Teddy yelled to Kaitlin.

He barely had time to get a shield up before a cherry pie smashed into it, the fruit and juices dripping down onto his shoes and the ground in front of him.

Kai reached down to grab the piece of pie from the ground before Dewey grabbed his arm and pulled it back.

"Do something," Kaitlin said to them. "Professors are going to be here any second."

Teddy later wondered how Kaitlin would know this. He also would wonder why this thought didn't come up at the moment. The answer to this was pretty simple though, shortly after Kaitlin asked him to do something, a pie hit both Dewey and him on the face.

"You gotta work on your shields," Kai muttered.

Dewey and Teddy ignored this, charging forward. He wasn't sure if the Punkers (which included people from every year) had thrown it or if was the Slytherins (also of every year) but at the moment it didn't matter. They each reached down to the floor, grabbed a handful of sticky, cold pie pieces and chucked it at the nearest person they saw.

A torrent of whipped cream shot at them, Teddy ducked and looking back saw that the stream knocked two house elves over.

Something powerful and unwelcome shot throughout Teddy. For a moment it seemed like someone had shoved a red light directly behind his eye. He dropped the piece of pie in his hand, reached into his robes to fish his wand out and started casting stunners at the wizards in front of him.

Two subsequent explosions brought him out of his stupor. He turned and saw Professor Rai holding a wand up towards the ceiling. Hundreds of red sparks slowly danced down above everyone, which the professor ignored as he made his way into the center of the group.

"Everyone drop what's in your hands. I don't care if it's a food or wand," he said.

Around the room, there were soft plops as people dropped the stuff in their hands.

"I have never in all of my time at this school been more disappointed in our students," Rai continued, as he made his way around the room casting rudimentary cleaning charms to undo some of the mess. "I didn't know that student's even knew of this room. The headmistress is not going to appreciate having to devise a new entrance system. Not to mention the inconvenience this will be to the Hogwarts House Elves..."

The House elves, who had ducked behind counters and tables in the explosion were now peeking their heads out to view the scene.

Teddy glanced behind him and found that both Kai and Kaitlin had vanished. All around him Huffelpuffs and Slytherins were looking woefully at the floor.

"I don't know what your Heads of House will decide as a punishment," said Rai. He managed to clear out the mess the whipped cream had left on the wall and counters and then turned back to the group. "But I will tell you this much, my recommendation is that none of you will be attending the upcoming Quidditch match."

It looked like Kai and Dewey had got their wish; Teddy was getting a real detention this time.


	22. Chapter 22 Hermoine's Story

**Chapter 22****: Hermoine's Story**

Professor Rai probably didn't need to make the students involved in " the kitchen incident" undergo an actual detention. His taking away the Quidditch game (especially to the Hufflepuff and Slytherian students) was more than enough punishment for the circumstance. Perhaps he had known this and taken pity when assigning the detentions because Teddy and everyone else involved found themselves back in the library on the night of the game. The librarian taught them a handy identifying spell that located books that careless students had abandoned. Teddy had spent a more or less enjoyable evening, wandering through the stacks, zapping books this way and that.

It was enjoyable at least, until they were all excused and they met the students who were on the way back from the Quidditch match. The looks on their faces had said it all. It had been an amazing match.

"There he is," one older Hufflepuff called. "Coach Extraordinaire!"

For a moment, Teddy wasn't sure who he was talking about. He turned though and noticed the young punker, James, turning uncharacteristically red.

"Imagine when that kid joins the team- someone's going to die."

Mercy and Sung Hee (part of the small group of the house who could watch the game) badgered their way through the laughing crowd and each kissed James and Leonard on the cheek.

"Come on, we are having a party," Mercy told them.

"Are we going to find out what happened?" Dewey said to the girls. For a moment they looked confused to find him there. They laughed though and each gave him a quick hug.

"It was brilliant, Wilkins and Violet, put on a show," Mercy said.

"The Tiny Terrors," Sung Hee supplied.

"The Tiny Terrors," Mercy agreed. "I knew Wilkins was tiny, but when you put him on a broom next to your cousin you realize they are actually about the same size. Anway they are chasing the snitch, they start at the entrance to the great hall and make their way all the way across the room, but it's right out of reach and the two are literally jammed side to side as they are flying."

At that moment, two older Hufflepuff's that Teddy recognized from the Flying Club nights made their way over. Everyone who had served detention also crowded around, no doubt eager to hear the events of the match.

"Who'se telling the story?" the taller of the two Hufflepuffs asked.

"I was," Mercy said impatiently. "I was saying how Wilkins and Parkinson were flying practically on each other's brooms."

"That was brilliant," the tall Hufflepuff added. "That little witch is pretty nasty."

He pretended to be seated on a broom and smacked his friend in the arm. The other Hufflepuff followed suit and the two made their way down the hall, their sides jammed into each other, each making a big show of elbowing and smacking the other one.

"Right," Mercy laughed, "kind of like that. Anyway, they are fighting the whole way across the hall when they are both within reach of the snitch. Violet throws one of her arms in Wilkins face (Sung He helpfully demonstrated on Mercy), but somehow Wilkins manages to duck under it. The snitch starts to rise up higher and higher and Wilkins, looking just like young James here, jumps onto... his...feet and just plucks the snitch out of the air."

The two Hufflepuff had made their way back and were still grinning like crazy.

"The place went beserk!" the shorter one said. He looked around for a second to see everyone's reactions pointed his finger dramatically downward.

"Everyone to the Hufflepuff Victory Party!"

The Hufflepuffs cheered (oblivious to the short tempered librarian on the other side of the door) and started heading towards their house. Dewey started to join them but he must have realized that Teddy and Kai hadn't followed. He turned and said, "are you guys coming or what?" He had a slightly put upon smile on his face when he turned to the Slytherians.

"Everyone's welcome." Dewey said to them. "You can drown your sorrows in butterbeer."

The Slytherians were all doing their best to hide their dissapointment and hurt from everyone else. They smiled at the offer though, and one of them managed to say, "Thanks, but I don't think anyone's in the mood for that." They turned and headed off to their own dungeons.

Once they were out of earshot Kai whispered, "That was decent of you mate but I'm glad they didn't come. All Teddy needs is for them to start another fight and for him to get a third night of detention in a row."

"I think Gran would send the Aurors after me," said Teddy.

They all laughed and made their way to the house common room.

* * *

It seemed the few Hufflepuffs who had attended the game had done a steller job of spreading the word of the party. Teddy was shocked upon entering their common room to find most of Ravenclaw and his own house already there.

"Lupin! Chang! Diggory!" Pierce yelled from near the entrance doors. "The boys who made the Flying Park possible."

A tremendous cheer went up for them.

"It was nothing," Kai weakly offered. The usually boisterous boy seemed overwhelmed by having a room staring at him.

"Someone get these three a drink," Pierce said, ignoring the statement. "And get James and Leonard another one while you're at it. Everybody drink to the flying maniacs!"

"Shouldn't someone toast to Wilkins?" Teddy whispered to Dewey.

Dewey shrugged. "I think he'll be alright." He motioned to a couch on the opposite wall where a few attractive Hufflepuff fifth years were each talking to him at once.

Someone did come around and put drinks into their hands. Teddy didn't get a chance to thank them as it seems everyone wanted to talk to him about what sort of tricks people were doing at the Flying Club, and is it true one of the Punkers nearly died there? And when were they planning their next evening?

One person not there that evening, strangely enough, was Kaitlin. Teddy had overheard that she and Leonard were fighting. No Kaitlin also apparently meant no Clippy. Teddy was surprised by how much their not being there bothered him.

Mercy and Sung Hee were also surprises to Teddy. The two girls were never more than a few feet away from the first year Punkers throughout the entire party. They seemed to have taken on the role as house-mothers to the boys. Chastising them when they used foul language or said dirty jokes or rough-housed. At the same time the punkers clearly were all doing there best to get the two girls to laugh at their antics. It was a bizarre yet oddly comforting scene.

Time flew that evening, but towards the end of the night, a Slytherian did make his way into the party.

"Uhm Teddy?" Dewey asked. "I think you are wanted."

Teddy turned to find Rowley biting his lip and bouncing on his feet.

"Are you free to talk Mr. Lupin?" The small house elf asked.

Nodding uncertainly, Teddy expected that they would plan a later meeting in the fainting room. Instead, he watched Rowley hurry over to a deserted corner of the common room. When he didn't follow the house elf quickly enough, Rowley motioned with his head for him to hurry over. It was a funny motion for an elf to use.

"Is this a good place to talk?" Teddy asked him.

Rowley stared blankly at him for a moment. "Did you and Ms. Parkinson find out anything?" he asked. His voice was quiet enough that Teddy had to stoop within inches of the house elf to hear.

"Err," Teddy faltered. "There has been a complication."

Rowley leaned in closely so that his long noise poked into Teddy's own. "What has happened?"

"I know that this... matter is supposed to be between Violet, you and me," Teddy said. He quickly turned around and scanned the room for Eloise, Mary, or Hannah. He spotted the three over by Dewey and Kai and quickly pointed them out to Rowley.

"I need some of my friends to figure out something about Madame."

The elf went from worried to positively alarmed at this.

"Don't worry!" Teddy said, putting a hand on Rowley's small shoulder. "They don't have any idea about Madame not being around for meals or anything. They just are helping me with a spell that can figure out where certain people are."

It was a true enough statement and Teddy said it with as much sincerity and calm assurance as he could.

"Is there some reason that we need to speak right now?" Teddy asked. "Did something happen?"

The house elf shook his head worriedly. "That's why I need you and Ms. Parkinson's help in the first place. I don't know what happened. I don't know if it happened."

The elf was getting louder and louder as he spoke and people were starting to look over at them. Teddy placed both his hands on Rowley's shoulder and gave him a quick shake of his head to quiet him.

"Tomorrow night," he said. "I'll figure out what I can before then and then you, Violet, and I will go over exactly what we know."

Rowley let out a long sigh of relief at this. "Tomorrow night. That is wonderful, I will find you two then and we will figure everything out."

"Everything," Teddy said, nodding his head. "But you should probably get going before people start to wonder about you."

Of course people were already looking over at the two of them. Teddy knew that they would be discussing the strange conversation and that the rest of the school (including the absent Slytherins) would know within hours that one of Madame's house elves had made a trip to a Quidditch party to see him. Rowley complied anyway though, giving Teddy his own quick clasp on one of his shoulders and then apparating away.

Teddy had barely turned around before Kai, Dewey, and the Ravenclaw girls were gathered around him.

"What was that about?" Dewey asked him. "

"Let me guess," Kai said. "It has to do with Violet and the map?"

"And a certain blinking dot?" Eloise added.

Teddy nodded, "and something has really tweaked that elf."

* * *

Although it was already well past curfew and they were all risking detention for being out, the three Ravenclaw girls, Dewey, Kai, and Teddy decided they needed to go to the Room of Requirement. It was risky (especially considering the amount of trouble he had gotten in over the past week) but Teddy needed to hear from the girls about their theories that evening- and anyway they had the map to avoid getting in trouble.

Hannah impressed everyone by performing a Dissillusionment Charm on the group. _It's not like an invisibilty cloak or anything, _Teddy heard her whisper. She was right, if you looked specifically for her you could see her, yet it was enough to get everyone out of the party unnoticed.

_How long does this last?_ Kai's voice called out from somewhere a feet feet in front of Teddy.

_No idea... I would guess not long though as I've never done it on so many people before._

At these words everyone suddenly materialized. Teddy, Mary, and Dewey all collided into each other.

"That long," Eloise said.

Teddy grinned at his friends as they got up.

"No matter," he said. "That's why we geniuses put together the map."

Either Hannah or Eloise (or possibly both) snorted at this. He ignored them though as he unveiled the practical map.

"Damn," he said. "I think we need to plan this trip for another night."

"The Headmistress coming this way?" Dewey asked him.

Teddy rolled the map up and motioned for everyone to head away. "Worse... it's the Weasly's."

With confused looks on their faces, the two second year boys and the Ravenclaw girls all began to head away. Within a few steps though, Eloise stopped and turned back to him.

"You said the Weasley's are on that map?"

Teddy closed his eyes in frustration and nodded quickly.

"Any specifc Weasleys?"

"Would you all just go?" He said back quickly.

The others had turned around though and realization had dawned on each of their faces.

"Did we add any of the Weasley's to our map?" Kai asked. "Because I don't remember that coming up."

"Can we talk about this later?" Teddy said. "They are in Professor Longbottoms quarters, I have a chance of speaking to them if I go now. It won't make sense if you are all there."

Eloise eyed him suspiciously. Finally she said, "Let's add mysterious foregin bodies to our map discussion when we speak tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, yes, great." Teddy said. He gave everyone a grateful smile and then set off as fast as he could towards Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Of the many invaluable peices of information their practical map afforded Teddy and his friends, one of the best aspects of it was learning precisely where each Head of House's quarters were. Unlike the Headmaster's quarters, the Head of House's quarters (all staff quarters incidentally) were under a fairly benign notice-me-not charm. Students could be brought to the quarters if need be, but they wouldn't be tempted to pop-in normally either. When Teddy and his friends had initally discovered this, they had discussed why the founders hadn't placed the staff's quarters under a fidelius or, more simply, made it unplottable. No one was certain that such magic would work in a place as old and powerful as Hogwarts, but it seemed reasonable that the staff-quarters were kept semi-public so that if someone needed to find them badly enough they could.

In any case, Teddy could now reference any of the staff-quarters with ease and had been surprised that Ron and Hermoine Weasley were inside Neville's living room. He wasn't exactly sure how he could enter that room, but it seemed important that he establish his alibi of being in the Gryffindor common room anyway.

"Rowena was a prat," He whispered to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Quidditch," she muttered to herself and then opened up.

Ron and Hermoine were sitting on the couch in front of him, staring intently at the fire.

_So much for the alibi, _he thought.

Hermoine noticed him first. She tapped her husband once on the shoulder and pointed at him. Strangely, neither of them seemed at all concerned to see him arrive back so late in the evening. They had, however, seemed to be waiting for him as the two immediately got up.

"We need someplace private to talk," Ron said.

Teddy felt like his legs were going to give out from under him. "Is everyone ok?"

Hermoine bit her lip and nodded. "We're all fine. But we need to ask you a few questions about your school mates."

They both seemed resigned to the task and impatient, so Teddy nodded and followed after them.

"We have Neville's office for a bit," Ron said over his shoulder. A grin came over his face, "Don't worry, he doesn't have a clue that you are coming in so late. You got away with one tonight."

Teddy could make out Hermoine sighing and shaking her head a bit at this comment but she didn't say anything further.

Inside Neville's office, Ron immediately went to work performing the sort of privacy spells that Teddy had witnessed Harry perform before. Hermoine, meanwhile, was digging through her bag and pulling out various folders.

"Take a seat," she said. She pointed her wand at the fireplace and silently cast a large ball of fire within.

Ron finished the privacy measures and then took a seat alongside Hermoine on Neville's side of the desk. "We're sorry to barge in like this Teddy, but we needed to talk with you immediately and in private."

"What happened?" Teddy asked, aware of how dry his lips suddenly were.

"St. Mungo's has had a string of mysterious cases lately," Hermoine said. "Someone has been dropping off muggles there in the dead of the night. No one knows who is dropping them off, and when the healers revive the muggles, there memories have been pretty severly wiped."

Teddy glanced between both of the Weasly's. Of all the things they might be telling him, muggles were the last thing he would have worried about. A nervous laugh came to his lips but he stifled it seeing the expression on their faces.

"Your friend, Chloe... We found her just an hour or so ago," Ron said.

"Chloe?" Teddy said.

He suddenly remembered the nauseous, painful feeling that he had been actively avoiding since his time in the Hogwart's tunnels that previous spring. Chloe? Someone had... Done whatever they had done with her. Obliviated her, and dropped her off with a bunch of muggles at St Mungo's? What?

Ron and Hermoine waited for him to process through this information.

"Where's Harry?" Teddy asked.

"He's on the scene trying to get to the bottom of this," Ron said. He paused for a moment and swallowed nervously.

"You obviously didn't know anything about this right?" he asked.

Teddy frowned at him. "What?"

"Of course you didn't. The look on your face when we told you," Ron said. "I'm sorry, I hate having to ask you about this."

Hermoine cut in, "he and Harry are going to be talking to a number of students in the morning about this. You are on the top of the list though."

"On the top of the list?" Teddy said. He bristled for a moment but his confusion and curiousity got the better of him. "What do you think I did?"

Ron sighed. "I'll let Hermoine explain the particulars, she's representing the muggle interest when this goes to the Wizengamot." The uncomfortable look on his face turned to one of anger for a moment. "If it goes there."

"It will," Hermoine said firmly in a way that suggested they had been having a similar discussion for awhile.

"Anyway," Ron said, "we know that Chloe has been in contact with people in this castle."

"With other people?" Teddy said. "I know she has been writing to me, and maybe to another person in my year, but I don't know anyone else she might be speaking to."

"That's the thing," Ron said, his ears and cheeks once again flushed. "She's been corresponding with someone here but the addressee and the message are coded."

"Encoded," Hermoine corrected.

"Right," Ron said, "she and whoever she has been talking with have some sort of system of their own to write back and forth. We're trying to figure out the code but it would be a lot easier if we found out who she was writing to."

"Oh," Teddy said. Chloe and someone had a secret code that they were exchanging private messages with? His mind automatically started rifling through the possible wizards that she might be talking to.

"We thought you two... seeing as you two were fairly close and you knowing about letter's being searched and all."

"It's not me," Teddy said, meeting Ron's eyes.

Ron nodded unhappily. "Alright then. Again, I'm sorry that you have to hear it this way. Although there isn't a good way to hear something like this."

He got up and grasped one of Teddy's shoulders much like Teddy had done with Rowley earlier that night. It put a smile to Teddy's face. At least he was hearing this from Ron and Hermoine rather than being surprised by some Auror the next morning.

"I've got to go. Hermoine can explain what she has uncovered so far."

Teddy nodded and then shook Ron's hand.

The two watched him go, then Hermoine said, "So, I imagine you have a number of questions."

Teddy nodded. He did want to know more about Chloe and the muggles being dropped off at St Mungo's. At the same time, he wanted to know what was happening outside the castle... If the Goblin's were suspected with the muggles at St Mungo's... If the Dragon Bandits were suspected... He realized that he had dozens of questions that he would like to know and of all the people in the world that he could ask, she seemed ideal. First things first though, a question had been bothering him for what felt like months.

"What do you know about prospecting?" he asked, then shook his head, realizing another question had been bothering him even longer. "No wait, you never explained to me what you knew of the Philosopher's stone?"

Hermoine was taken aback by this. "What? Don't you want to hear about-"

"I want to know about Chloe and the muggles. I have a lot of questions about it. But, from the look on you and Ron's face I'm guessing you don't have much more information that you can tell me. Anyway, I keep forgetting to ask Harry about two things. His relatives and their prospector work, and what he remembers about the Philosopher's Stone. Both keep coming up over and over this year and no one here seems to be able to give me a straight answer."

"Who has been discussing them?" asked Hermoine.

Teddy told her about the dinner parties where prospecting and the stone had come up, about the arguements students had about the nature of the stone, about his discussions with Professor Curr about Prospecting and about the debate between Seavelle and Babbit. By the time he had finished, he wondered how he hadn't thought up his own code to use with Harry so that he could have asked him this before.

Hermoine was quiet for a moment while she processed all of this. "I don't know much about prospecting. You might want to go to the library and research it. I'm sure there are dozens of helpful books detailing the subject."

Teddy shook his head. He felt like the world's biggest idiot for not realizing there was such a simple solution to a question like that.

Hermoine continued, "The Philosopher's stone on the other hand, I do know a bit about. I know the story of it at least, better than most."

Teddy nodded.

"The Philosophers Stone is one of the wizarding communities best kept secrets," she said.

He frowned at her which she nodded at impatiently.

"Well we know about it, and by 'we' I mean that wizards and other sentient magical beings know about it- as opposed to muggles- but even the magical world doesn't really know much about it."

"What do you know about it?" she asked and then as if to answer her own question she said, "you know that it's a really rare stone, created by Nicholas Flamel. It can turn metals into gold and it produces the elixir of life, which allows people to live forever."

"I know that there was only one ever made," Teddy pointed out.

She nodded. "Right, you know that at one point a single stone was created. Flamel asked Albus Dumbledore to keep it safe for him when he feared dark wizards were going to steal it, and Voldermont, possessing a teacher at Hogwarts, tried to do just that."

"Harry stopped him," Teddy concluded. "He did it his first year."

Again she nodded. "He did indeed. And then you probably know that Flamel advised Dumbledore to destroy the stone. All of that is pretty well understood by the wizarding world. What most people do not know is that the Philosopher's Stone can't be destroyed. Or more specifically- it can't be undone."

Neville had a number of photographs on his walls. One of them, Teddy had seen before at the Burrow. It was of the original Order of the Phoenix. He stared over at it now, his eyes automatically going to the tall, ancient, and delighted Dumbledore standing in the center of the large group.

"He couldn't break it?" Teddy asked.

"He could," Hermoine nodded. "But he couldn't destroy the work... You're in the Muggle Science Club right? Has Dr. Babbit explained about nuclear energy?"

Teddy shrugged, not remembering if the term had come up.

"Last century, some muggles discovered an energy source that they could use to power their world. It also could be used to inflict damage that even we couldn't do. Many muggles feared this new technology but none of them could get rid of it. The _science_, that can't be unlearned."

"Couldn't they just destroy their records? Burn the books and papers and stuff," Teddy asked.

Hermoine started to shake her head but stopped herself. "They could," she admitted. "If they really wanted to, and that would take a lot because a number of enemy countries each had this technology, but if they really wanted to they probably could have. Now though, it's too late- too many people know, it's spread out way too far, and Muggles have no way of erasing all their data."

Teddy's frown returned.

"It's pretty scary stuff from what I've read," Hermoine said. "I don't know what we would do if we somehow got in the middle of it, but that's not my point. The difference between the muggle world and the wizarding one is that we have a much, much, tighter society and we have far more control of what information we spread to the masses. Think about how closely we guard our own magic- how people can't even do it unless they have been trained and they can't be trained unless they are selected and how that entire time, the school and therefore the board of governors, and therefore the ministry, are all in control with what people know."

Her tone was just the slightest bit indignant at this statement, as if her entire life she resented having information withheld from her.

"We have the ability to keep our own technological advances secret and it seems Flamel decided to do just that- probably at Dumbledore's insistence."

"So when you say the stone can't be destroyed..." Teddy said.

"Right," Hermoine said, "so Flamel seemed to have proved the stone could be constructed and the easiest way for wizards to produce their own stones would be to study the original."

"Why would someone need two stones?" Teddy asked.

"They wouldn't," she answered. "They would want to know how to have their own though, so they wouldn't need to depend on others and so they could have their own supply of health and wealth. But that's just it- when Dumbledore destroyed the stone, he was also stating to the wizarding world that the technology was gone. That's silly though, because one can't destroy a technology, that's like destroying a song or a joke or a story or something. The stone itself is essentially worthless, it's the work put into that really matters."

"Like the project notes or something?" Teddy said. "Did he destroy those too?"

Hermoine smiled at him. "One would think- although even destroying that wouldn't be final considering Flamel's notes are from years working with prospectors."

"Prospecters," Teddy said excitedly, "like Harry's dad?"

Hermoine put her hand out as if to stop him right there. "I thought you might think they are related. From the notes I have read though, Flamel worked with Italian prospectors."

"Oh," Teddy said.

Hermoine shrugged. "But it wasn't just prospectors. He worked with Potion Masters and Healers and Transfiguration Scholars and with Goblins who use stones and with Alchemists and with Historians who studied Alchemists and with countless others. And despite the very specific and detailed thing that he eventually came up with, all of the various people he worked with have left a trail for someone to work out the parameters of what he had done."

"But you said that the wizarding world could keep a better secret than the muggle world," Teddy said.

"And they did," Hermoine agreed. "Dumbledore told just enough of the fantastic story of the stone for people to believe that it really was created and ended with Flamel's own brilliant life. Everyone knows who made it and how it ended. And there is just enough strangeness, just enough... fantasy for people to question if it's true at all."

She smiled at Teddy in a way that made him feel very young.

"This stone that fell out of a mirror and into the Boy-Who-Lived's pocket? That perhaps made him strong enough to melt a man to ash? The stone that no one has ever seen except for three men- two dead, one not remembering enough to explain it? It was these details which I believe Dumbledore worked in his own way to spread, that made the stone into a legend. He couldn't kill the technology but he could obfuscate it."

They fell into a short silence where Teddy was thinking about the way people sometimes looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermoine and how the Punkers looked at him the first time they met.

Finally he asked, "so everyone forgot about it?"

"No," she said. "But not a lot of people think about it. It's actually somewhat frowned upon in academic circles- sort of seen as amateur, sort of childish. But there have been some trying to find out more about his work."

"You said that you knew more about the stone than Harry himself," Teddy interrupted.

"Well that actually didn't mean much as your godfather hasn't spent five minutes, as far as I can tell, trying to research the stone. But, yes, I am one of the few people that have tried to track down Flamel's work and I have read the various accounts that you mentioned Madame Sevelle described in the debate."

"She read his notes."

"She read public records probably," she said. "He published papers about his time with the Italian sculptors, as well as papers on potions, transfiguration, prophecies, you name it, he studied it."

"He sounds like Professor Dumbledore," Teddy said.

She nodded, "Dumbledore idolized him when he was younger. Flamel was one of the most widely published and respected academics of his time. But what he never had done, and I'm sure if Dumbledore had his way, never will do, is reveal his personal work on the stone. The notes, the steps he took, the _science._"

"Does it exist somewhere?" Teddy asked.

Hermioned frowned. "I think so; I want to think so at least. But those two men were some of the smartest wizards of the past two centuries, and neither of them ultimately wanted people to find out. My guess is it would take someone of their ability to either find his notes or to follow his trail and do it themselves."


	23. Chapter 23 Return to the Fainting Room

**Chapter 23: Return to the Fainting Room**

It was very late in the evening when Teddy finally made it back to his bed. He and Hermoine were still talking when Ron returned from St Mungo's.

"Blimey Hermoine- didn't you just tell me off the other night for keeping James and Albus up at the Potter's? And they aren't even in school yet."

Teddy left the two bickering by his common room door. His mind was absolutely full of questions and he was itching to get some answers. He had asked Hermoine about Chloe, but she didn't have any more information than what Ron had initially told him. The one thing that she had advised him was that it would not be a good idea in the near future to write letters to her. He wondered what the Auror's were asking her. What she could and could not tell him. It was some comfort to know that she was with Harry and seemed unharmed.

He wondered about Rowley's insistent questions from earlier that night. He really wanted to get to the Owlery and see if he could duplicate Madame's strange blinking dot life. He thought about getting the practical map out and exploring that evening but, he had school in a few hours, his common sense ruled out.

Nevertheless, as he lay in bed, he made a mental list of the places that they needed to check out. He wished he knew the spell that can remove memories from one's mind for safe keeping, all the could do was scribble a few locations down on the inside cover of one of his textbooks until finally he fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning arrived all too quickly for him. He was very late for breakfast and subsequently late for Transfigurations that morning. Professor Curr was in an impatient mood as he grimaced at Teddy's opening the door during his lecture. He quickly pointed at an empty seat in the back row and then resumed his teaching. The students did not take kindly to the extra homework that the Professor assigned and many gave Teddy dirty looks at the end of class.

"Sorry Professor," he said as he was leaving the classroom.

Professor Curr took a sip from the mug of tea in his hand and gave him a long look.

"Did I ever tell you about one of my best mates when I went to Hogwarts? He had gifts very similar to you. Oh he wasn't a natural metamorphmagus if that's what you're thinking."

Teddy nodded.

"Some people are just naturally more pulled to one subject of magic. My friend had a natural grasp for Transfiguration and he was also a bit of a show-off. Well one day, I go to class and my friend, who I did not see in the common room that morning or at breakfast, hadn't shown up for class either."

Curr raised an eyebrow and gave Teddy a (somewhat exaggerated) accusing look.

"I'm in Transfig, taking notes, when I see the strangest sight... Our normally solid classroom door now has a small window in its center. The window is not much bigger than a chocolate frog card and I watch as it moves from one side of the door to the other. Soon this window moves to the very bottom of the door and as I watch it, it vanishes and in its place is a hinge the size of a fifth year Ravenclaw."

Teddy looked at his own classroom door and smiled.

"Well no one sees this of course," Curr went on, "and no one seemed to notice as my smirking mate crawls into the classroom. The look on his face said very clearly, 'not only is this top notch work but it's top notch _improv_ work'. I knew that he would be bragging about this for a long time. So, I didn't hesitate, I aimed my wand at the desk nearest him and shot one of the books off in hopes of it landing on him."

"Did you two get in trouble?" Teddy asked.

Curr's grin matched Teddy's. He shook his head. "My friend really was an excellent Transfig student. The book landed in a heretofore unseen wastebasket; none of the student's could figure out why a waste basket would make an 'ouch' noise."

* * *

Making his way down to the Potions dungeons, Teddy spotted Violet on her way to class. He was surprised that the other Slytherin's, excluding Stephen, were all keeping a good distance between her and them. From what he had heard she had flown extremely well, everyone had said as much at the party that previous evening.

"Hey Violet," he called out.

She turned to him and the look on her face explained why the other Slytherin's were keeping their distance. Violet wasn't being shunned; she simply looked like she wanted to hex the next person who gave her a funny look.

She turned back around and made her way to the Potions room.

"Want to sit with us today?" asked Julie, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

It was a tempting offer, especially considering how Violet had been basically not speaking with him since he had shouted at Madame a week and a half ago. Still though, he needed to speak with her about Rowley. The two needed to figure out what was going on with Madame sometime that evening. He started to shake his head.

"Please," Julie said quietly. The look in her eyes suggested that she too needed to speak with him about something.

He nodded and made his way over to their table, motioning to Stephen and Violet as he passed that he somewhat reluctantly needed to sit with the Gryffindors that day. Both turned away without any visible reaction.

If Julie had needed to speak with Teddy during class, she wasn't showing it. Teddy had suspected that only the Slytherins in the front of the class gave Fernius and Madame that rapt, silent attention that most professors dream of getting. He was surprised to find that Julie and April (as well as a few other tables of Gryffindors) were trying just as hard to win the professors' favor. Although he doubted any of them would admit to it, if that phrase were posed to them. He certainly wouldn't.

Even though Fernius was teaching, and Madame was deep into a book at her desk, Teddy found himself staring at her during class that morning. Why was everyone in this class trying so hard to impress her? Even Fernius and the house elves seemed to keep looking over in her direction. It reminded Teddy somewhat of Fleur Weasley and how men couldn't help but look at her. But this felt very different than that.

He was staring over at Seavelle and considering all of these things when Julie tugged at his elbow. He glanced over and saw that April had gotten up from the table to retrieve their Potion ingredients.

"You were questioned too, right?" she asked quickly.

He blinked and then realized she was talking about Chloe. "Yes," he said, "I found out about it yesterday."

Julie nodded. "Me too. Well, this morning for me."

"What did they ask you?" Teddy asked.

Julie lifted up from her seat ever so much to see if April was still at the Potion's cupboard. Satisfied she got back into her seat and leaned towards Teddy.

"They knew that Chloe and I had been writing back and forth. They seemed to know what we had been talking about as well," she said, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice.

"Harry told me a few times over the year that if there was something I didn't want others to read, then I shouldn't put it in a letter."

Julie rolled her eyes at this. "Yeah, I know. I just didn't think the school would be doing it."

"It does seem like an invasion of our privacy," Teddy agreed.

"Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to tell them. But I didn't. I think I was too scared with having to answer the Auror's questions. I mean, they wanted to know whether we met over holiday break and when I said no, they asked if Chloe had sent a message when I was home that might contain a part that I couldn't work out."

"What?" Teddy asked.

"Like if she was sending me puzzles; things that I wouldn't quite get, but that I would try and work out anyway."

"And..." Teddy started

"What?" She shot back, one of her eyebrows raised in warning.

"Did she?" he asked.

He had expected the question to bother her, to cause her to glare at him and indignantly reply "of course not". Instead she shocked him, throwing both of her hands out to the side and shaking her head in disbelief.

"Finally," she said. "I thought you might never ask me that."

Teddy didn't want to look or sound as stupid as he felt at that moment but he guessed that was a losing battle. "What are you talking about?"

"About Chloe's letters. About her acting strange. I kept trying to talk to you about it all year but every time I would bring her up you would bite my head off."

Teddy winced a bit at this. She was right of course.

"I mean I've been wondering if she was ok for months. She writes me a letter out of the blue and it's like the two of us were the best of friends last year. She wanted to know all about my classes, and the new magic we are doing, and about the new professors, and about _you._ All of a sudden she is asking about when our winter holiday is and if we can meet together."

"Over winter holiday?" Teddy asked.

Julie nodded. "Yeah and then I tried telling you about her, I was going to ask if we all could meet up together- so it wouldn't be stressful for her, or strange for anyone. But then I get another letter saying to not bother. And I tried writing back but I didn't hear anything. I waited, expecting to hear something back but there was nothing. She had written so many letters the past few months and so I thought she would eventually get back to me. A month or so ago I finally got tired of waiting and tried sending her another letter. She still hasn't returned it though."

Before Teddy could reply, April had returned to the table with their Potion supplies.

She looked at both Teddy and Julie and gave them a funny look.

"Did I miss anything?"

* * *

After Potion's class, Teddy chased Violet down near her house entrance.

"Violet!" he said, grabbing her arm.

She spun around, her face as dangerous as it had been earlier that morning.

"I need to talk to you, Teddy said.

She sighed impatiently, "Teddy, can we do this another time."

"No we bloody well can't," he said. He started walking in the opposite direction and yelled over his shoulder, "come on."

He got to the lantern on the dungeon wall that marked the Fainting Room. He had no idea how to access the room and for a moment considering calling for Rowley when Violet appeared behind him.

She reached out and stuck one of her fingers directly in the lantern's flame. Calmly, she searched her finger around the base of the fire before she found what she was looking for. There was a click and then the wall opened in front of them.

"Wicked," Teddy muttered as he followed her into the room.

"Ok, so what did you need to talk to me about right now?" Violet said when the two entered the room.

The door behind her quietly shut and for a moment they were plunged into darkness. Then similar lanterns around the room fired up and a fireplace in the back roared to life.

"Rowley tracked me down last night. He was seriously worried about Madame."

"What?" Violet asked.

"He wouldn't say why, but he was worried about something," Teddy said. He took a deep breath then looked at his cousin in the eyes. "Violet, do you know where Madame was last night."

"What?" Violet repeated, instantly shaking her head. "Of course not."

"Do you know anyone that would know?" Teddy asked.

"No," Violet said firmly. "Everyone in the school was in the Great Hall for the game."

"Right," Teddy said. "I forgot about that."

"Most people won't," Violet replied.

"Everything I've heard is how tough you were as a seeker," Teddy said.

"What's the last thing you heard about Seavelle?" Violet asked.

Teddy explained to her that he had put the matter to the older Ravenclaw girls and how, while they had theories they wanted to discuss, he seriously doubted they knew what was going on.

"Our best bet is to go investigate the spot where it happened," he told her.

"When?"

"Tonight."

* * *

That evening, Teddy took a seat in front of the Gryffindor fire place and made a point of striking up a conversation with everyone around him. He had either been in trouble or sneaking away the past few nights and knew that eventually the other people in his house were going to start wondering where he was going.

He spoke to Clippy and Suchin for awhile (apparently they had started hanging out lately) and found out that Kaitlin and Leonard had broken up over the weekend. Clippy and Suchin didn't seem concerned, even when a moody, glaring Kaitlin showed up and took a seat in the armchair across from them. The two played exploding snap and left her alone, as did Teddy.

He found out from Colin that Sophia had also broken up with her boyfriend. "She had a boyfriend?" he asked him. Colin rolled his eyes and then quickly ran off to speak to some of the Quidditch players who just entered the room.

The house prefect, Sarah, took a seat nearby and surprised him by volunteering that she had been questioned by the Auror's as well. Her family had sent Chloe a fruit basket when she was in the hospital last year and evidently she had received a thank you card during the school year. Unlike Julie, Sarah seemed to have no idea what happened to Chloe, just that the Auror's were concerned about Muggles that had been to St Mungo's (apparently the auror's hadn't clarified that they were talking about her recent trip to the hospital.) Teddy and she had a very pleasant talk about what they remembered about Chloe from the previous year.

Soon enough though, students began leaving the common room for bed. Teddy waited till only a few people were out and then walked casually to the door. He glanced back, saw that no one was watching him and then left.

With the practical map, Teddy was able to make it down to the dungeons without any difficulty that evening. He found the torch on the wall that signified the Fainting Room and nervously reached a hand out to it. As he feared, the flames burnt painfully into his palm. He grimaced, and plunged deeper into the lantern and immediately the pain vanished. He didn't know much about illusions but, from the little he heard, it wasn't taught at Hogwarts. He found the button, clicked it, and made his way into the Fainting Room.

"Mr. Lupin!" called a familiar voice from inside.

"Rowley?"

The house elf was kneeling by the fireplace, curiously enough, over a tiny cauldron.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Lupin must continue on his way."

Teddy shook his head, "Violet's coming any minute. We're going to figure out where Madame might have gone off to on one of those times that you couldn't locate her."

The elf produced a vial from one of the inner pockets of his vest and quickly dumped its contents into the cauldron. He glanced down at it for a moment then looked back at Teddy.

"Ms. Parkinson won't be coming tonight. I told her not to."

Teddy frowned, "Is everything ok?"

The elf bit his lip and his entire body shook just a bit at the question. Then he forced a determined smile onto his face.

"Nothing that you or Ms. Parkinson need to worry about. Just something between Bothers and I."

He vaguely remembered Madame using that name with one of her house elves at a recent dinner party.

Rowley reached into his jacket, grabbed another vial, and dumped that in as well. He summoned a spoon and stirred the potion in what seemed like a fairly erratic way then looked back at Teddy.

"Mr Lupin, you are a good friend to help me. As soon as I can, I will find you and Ms. Parkinson to find out about Madame."

Teddy was very curious to see what Rowley's potions looked like and perhaps the elf suspected this because Rowley clicked his fingers to open the door behind him.

"Thank you, thank you, I can't thank you enough," the elf said, the forced smile straining on his face. "I will find you as soon as I can."

Teddy started to shake his head but Rowley clicked his finger and suddenly his body was gliding backwards out of the room. Before he knew it, he was staring back at the stretch of the wall with a familiar torch near his face.

"Weird," he muttered.

For a moment, he stood outside the Fainting Room entrance and simply stared ahead. He was pulled out of his thoughts though by the sound of footsteps down the hall. The practical map showed that the two Slytherian prefects had just left their common room and were heading his way. There was a clear enough path between the dungeons and the Gryffindor tower (a few teachers and prefects wandering the hallways but he felt he could get there without any close calls) and he started heading that direction immediately. A dot outside the kitchen stopped him though.

_Bothers_

The house elf passed through the entrance and appeared in the main kitchen room. Within a moment, dozens of dots appeared nearby. Two of the dots, _Tealy _and _Winnie_ moved from the kitchen area to the kitchen entrance and stopped there.

"What are they doing?" Teddy asked the map.

He noticed that the Slytherin prefects would soon meet up with him if he didn't hurry upstairs and made a quick decision. He had pretty decent luck conversing with the house elves in the past; hopefully he could convince Tealy and Winnie to let him into the kitchens.

* * *

"We's supposed to stay out of this," the tinier of the two house elves said to the other.

The other elf shook his head stubbornly.

"And what do we do if this happens to us?" the tiny house elf pressed.

The other elf grimaced but didn't answer.

Teddy, perching behind the corner that led to the kitchen entrance, had been watching the one-sided conversation for a few minutes. The smaller elf (he didn't know their names and didn't want to light up the map from his present spot) was clearly very unhappy to be guarding whatever was happening in the kitchens, and was voicing this complaint to his steadfastly silent partner. Teddy, taking a page from Curr's playbook, had made the color of his skin, his hair, his lips and eyes, as black as possible. He doubted anyone would notice him if he didn't move.

"This is how it started last year," the little elf said.

Of all the various complaints and arguments that the smaller elf had posed, this was the one that the larger elf finally responded to. He glared at the little elf and furiously shook his head.

"You wasn't here. You don't know what you are talking about."

Now the little elf was shaking his head stubbornly. "Reemy's talked about it. He says that someone else's elf came in and started the trouble. That they put elves like us on guard last year too."

"This is different! This is good medicine, and this is for one person."

"We doesn't know if it's good or bad medicine," the small elf said.

Something made the two elves stop arguing and stiffen up straight. Suddenly the portal opened and another elf, wearing the kitchen clothes came through.

"We needs you back in the kitchens," he said.

The two guard elves glanced at one another and then made their way through the portal. This was the moment that Teddy had been hoping for. It was a normal occurrence in the common room to hear someone yell, "Wait!" and then see an arm shove desperately through the back of the portrait. Some of the doors at Hogwarts allowed people to get through provided they could get one part of their body in before the door closed and Teddy lunged towards the painting in that vein.

His body rebounded painfully off of the portrait. He was so used to moving through portraits and tapestries that he tended to forget that behind them were stone walls. He rubbed the index finger that had taken the bulk of the punishment and studied the fruit ball in front of him. Professor Rai had made it clear after the kitchen incident that the entrance would have new security measures in place. Surely it would be something different than simply tickling a different piece of fruit.

He cautiously ran his hand over the apples, grapes, and oranges but none of them yielded an opening. From Harry and Ron's stories of their own Marauder's Map, some of the passages had illustrations that explained how to access the room's within. His map of course didn't do anything like that, but he pulled it out anyway to see what was happening in the room. Upon looking at the map, he did a double take; the room was now empty except for one dot.

_James Babbit._

He didn't know exactly why, but he thought that this was exactly where the mysteries in his life had led him to. Why the house elves were acting so strange, where Madame might be getting off to, and most importantly, what had happened to Chloe. It had to do with the person on the other side of the door, he was certain of it. He just needed to get there.

He put both hands on the painting and frantically draped them back and forth, making sure to prod each piece of fruit in front of him.

"Where are you?" he whispered frantically to the picture. "Open up."

He continued this for a moment and then in frustration, punched the dead center of the painting.

The picture opened as he hit it and he fell forward into the kitchen. He had been lucky to not fall onto his face, the polished stone floor would likely have broken his nose. He looked up sheepishly, expecting to find Dr Babbit looking at him in amazement; except, Dr Babbit wasn't anywhere to be found. No one seemed to be in the kitchens. Unlike his past trips, there were no sounds of people cleaning or cooking or moving about. No one appeared to be peering out from behind tables or chairs or anywhere to see him. The massive kitchens were silent.

He picked the map off the floor and scanned the kitchen to find out where everyone had gone and once again he did a double take. Dr Babbit's dot was still in the kitchen, but now it was positioned right behind his own dot...

For a moment he froze in place, admittedly a strange reaction to being spotted by an invisible person. This wasn't going at all how his hastily thrown together plan was supposed to work. For one thing, Teddy was supposed to confront the professor, not the other way around. He took a deep breath and thought to himself for a moment. When he had his sense about him, he quietly rolled the map up and stuffed it into his robes.

"Is someone there?" Teddy called out. "Kaitlin? Clippy?"

There was silence for a moment and then Babbit called out, "Is that you Mr. Lupin?"

Teddy turned and spotted the professor, who had just un-disillusioned himself near the door that he had fallen through.

"Dr. Babbit?"

Babbit didn't say anything to this. The look on his face made it clear that he didn't believe Teddy's feigned surprise. The professor gave him that same searching glance that he tended to use in class, except this time, Teddy had no doubt that his focus was directly on him.

"What are you doing here?" Babbit finally asked.

"I thought my friends were in here."

Babbit shook his head once, "You know that your friends aren't in here."

Teddy started to deny this but stopped himself.

"How would you know that?" he asked him.

Babbit didn't take his eyes off him as he slowly drew his wand out from his robes. For a wild moment, Teddy considered grabbing his own wand in defense but he stopped himself when the professor wordlessly summoned two chairs, and a small table complete with a tea set.

The chairs were the type of cushy recliners that they had near the fireplaces in the common rooms, and Babbit didn't hesitate to sit in his. He motioned for Teddy to sit in the other one and after a moment, he cautiously did just that.

"I don't know how you followed me here," Babbit said quite calmly as he poured tea for each of them. "I suspect it has to do with that paper of yours, but I knew you would want to talk with me soon enough."

Teddy wasn't sure how to respond to this. He eyed the tea cup in front of him for a moment before answering Babbit's statement with a shrug.

"I heard about your friend," Babbit continued. He seemed to anticipate the fierce glare that came to Teddy's face. "I spoke with your godfather about it this morning."

"Is that when you heard?" Teddy shot back at him.

Babbit was silent for a moment. "The difficult thing is, I don't know what your godfather or other family members might have told you about me... I don't know what I need to deny. They did explain some of my situation to you, correct?"

Teddy was about to shrug again, but he thought better of this, and he nodded.

"I know that you had to leave America."

Now it was Babbit's turn to nod. "And did he ask you to follow me?"

Teddy snorted. "He expressly forbade me from doing so."

Babbit considered this for a moment as he drank his tea.

"Well, that's very decent of him. I wasn't sure to what extent he and the Auror's were going to here to keep tabs on me."

"I couldn't tell you," Teddy replied, "But I'm sure there are a number of things that you don't want to talk about."

"Well the big one," Babbit answered. "About your friend, about the Muggles at St Mungo's… I can swear to you that I had no idea that anything like that had happened. I have no clue really why someone might be doing that. And that, despite my political trouble, my current expertise, and the level of suspicion that is undoubtedly on me right now, I can tell you for certain I had nothing to do with it."

There was a long silence where Babbit simply watched Teddy. He wasn't sure what to make of it until he realized the Professor was waiting to see if this explanation would be acceptable or not.

"Ok," Teddy said slowly. "But why should I accept that? You just admitted how suspicious the circumstances are and you seem to know that the Auror's are monitoring you."

"They are monitoring me. They would be whether or not something terrible had happened. They have been doing it ever since I got here." He waved a hand in the same dismissive manner that he had used in his debate with Madame. "Anyways, it's to be expected. If I were teaching in France or Holland or China or wherever, I would expect their nation's security to be doing the same thing."

Teddy didn't like the casual acceptance of this sort. They weren't discussing ionic bonds or laws of physics; he had no reason to be this matter of fact. He tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice, "What did you do?"

"That's a long story that I can't get into with you right now. Suffice to say, I didn't do anything, but a few people in the American Congress thought that I was about to. They believed I represented a threat to the American wizarding world as they knew it."

He paused for a moment and once again studied his face.

"But you don't believe that."

Teddy frowned at him. "You know whatever you tell me I will be telling Harry, right?"

Babbit took his wand out once again and sent the table away. He motioned for Teddy to get up and with a swish of the wand he banished both of the chairs.

"Tell him to speak to me himself. It's already unprofessional enough for me to let you and your friends sneak into the Room of Requirements and the kitchens without alerting the staff that kids are out-of-bounds."

With that, he put his wand back into his robe and turned towards the door.

"Why didn't you tell?" Teddy found himself asking Babbit's back.

Babbit turned back to him, a small smile on his face.

"You're being careful, you're being smart, you're being good- why should I have?"


	24. Chapter 24 Goodfellow Dance

**Chapter 24: Goodfellow Dance**

Compared to the first two Qudditch matches, the championship was strangely anticlimatic. For one thing, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw didn't have nearly the rivarly of say a Gryffindor-Slytherian, or even better, a Hufflepuff-Slytherian match. Dewey and Eloise weren't the only couple between their two houses. It was the only match of the short season where the players had all shaken hands before _and after_ the game.

Hufflepuff had handily won the match 250 to 40. Teddy was glad of this, although he did not admit it. Dewey was a much more graceful winner than Kai surely would have been. There was a moment of unpleasantness when his friends met the Ravenclaw girls in the inter-house common room that next evening. The Ravenclaws all sharing a quick glance between themselves when Dewey sat down.

"What?" Dewey said.

Kai shrugged. "It's just not fun losing to a punker."

With the passing of the Quidditch season, it became immediately clear that the end of the year was right around the corner. The following week was their Spring Break and then they had just a month before their finals. Seemingly overnight, the inter-house common room had reverted back from being a raucous hangout to a place of fervent study.

The Ravenclaw girls, needing an even quieter place to study, had opted to work amongst themselves in their dorm room. Strangely, none of the boys seemed to note their absence. They continued to come back to the room each evening, lugging the same books and working just as hard. Of course, there were plenty of things to discuss that had nothing to do with studying. His conversations with Ron/Hermoine and Babbit foremost. The strange behavior of the house elves, the strangeness with the map, and with Seavelle. There were many questions that he had to ask. The trouble was, he was posing these questions to people with even less of a handle on the various situations than himself.

"The weird thing is, he doesn't seem any different around you in Muggle Science," said Kai.

They were discussing, once again, the strange conversation Teddy and Babbit had in the kitchens.

"What is he supposed to do? Give me threatening looks?" Teddy replied.

He felt uncomfortable talking about Babbit as he hadn't explained the professor's history to Dewey or Kai. He wasn't entirely sure why he was keeping this knowledge from them, especially considering he had told Violet all about it on the train ride at the beginning of the year. Was he protecting Harry and Ron from the disruption to their investigation that would surely happen if the rumor leaked to the entire school? Was he protecting Babbit? He didn't quite know but generally he tried to work the conversation back to Seavelle.

"Anyone know how to do the double knot charm?" asked Teddy, hoping to change the subject.

"Really?" asked Kai. "You can't do that?"

Kai's incredulouseness was not unfounded. Teddy had gotten considerably better at Charms work since joining the club earlier that year. Also, knot tying was duffer work.

"I get it confused with that sewing one."

Kai stared at him for a minute, as to see if he was being honest or not. It was a fair point though, considering how similar the actual work was. Finally Kai shrugged and then made an elaborate motion with his wand to showcase the charm...

* * *

If Teddy was spending more and more time with Kai and Dewey this year, the three of them were undoubtedly spending less time with Violet. Since the Winter Ball, she had stopped speaking to Kai, and both she and Stephen were not speaking to Teddy (more than necessary at least) ever since his detention. It seemed the only person who was on good terms with Violet, was Dewey.

At first, Teddy had thought it strange that Stephen White was also not speaking to him. _Did all the Slytherin's really care that much what Seavelle thought of them to shun a tablemate for the rest of the year?_

A few classes later though, Teddy realized that Stephen wasn't being cold to him. He was being tightlipped in general. No one at their table was talking. He noticed this because he was trying to get Violet's attention so that she could see the strange sight of Rowley and Traver's bickering behind Seavelle. Violet either didn't see Teddy or was ignoring him. He was surprised to find Stephen glancing over in the direction of the house elves and then back at Teddy, with a question evident on his face.

Rowley hadn't gotten back to Teddy since he had spoken to him in the Room of Requirements. Apparently whatever he was worried about with Madame had taken a backseat to his current problems. Teddy and Stephen weren't the only person who had noticed the bickering between Seavelle's elves; he overheard conversations in the Interhouse Common Room and library- _I hear she is dismissing two of them at the end of year- Do you think one of them is nicking potions? To make some money on the side or maybe one of them is addicted to something —_and strangest of all- _They are getting ready for an elfen duel._

Neither Kai or Dewey had ever heard of an elfen duel, nor had Clippy, Suchin, or Kaitlin (the three had at some point taken the Ravenclaws girls' place in the Inter-house Common Room). Suchin had helpfully volunteered to look into it and that evening, had brought a book with the information.

"Should I read it out loud or pass it along or what?" he asked Teddy.

The problem with going to a school of magical learning was that all the cool, and useful, and interesting spells weren't taught until you were near the age of adult. There was good reason for this, most of those spells required the wizard/witch to know a foundation of other spells and theories; also, much of those spells were dangerous and required the control and maturity that the younger students lacked. This realization didn't make it any easier though, particularly when you saw the older students or your older family members performing just those sort of spells. What Teddy would like in this specific instance was the _Muffliato _Charm. It was ideal for this sort of situation but well past his own knowledge and abilities.

"Just whisper it, ok?" he said.

Suchin, seeming to understand Teddy perfectly well, gave him a sheepish grin. He leaned forward and quietly began to read.

A _Goodfellow Dance, also sometimes referred to as an Elfen Duel, is an formal agreement between two elves to settle a dispute. Similar to wizard duels, in that the elves sometimes may choose a second (or more), the elves distinguish themselves in that they fight for the other elf's place in their home. While these agreements generally do not describe whether an elf must kill the other, most of these fights go to the death._

Suchin paused and glanced around the group.

_Since this practice has long been viewed as part of the master's domain, most wizarding governments have kept out of legislating such events. The British Ministry of Magic, responding to considerable activist lobbying, voted to "condemn" such practices in 1984; however, there has been no serious effort to forbid it. Goodfellow Dance's seems to have lost favor amongst the most recent generation of house-elf owning families. Most families have the master settle the dispute themselves, often by separating fueding elves. In extreme cases, an owner will side with one elf over the other and either trade their elf to another family or banish it._

He stopped reading and for a moment no one said anything.

"Is that it?" asked Kaitlin.

Suchin nodded.

"Maybe you're aunt was right with all that SPEW stuff," Dewey said.

* * *

After reading the article about Goodfellow Dances, they had talked for a good while about what they thought house elves might do in a fight. Everyone, to Teddy's surprise, seemed ready to offer an opinion. House elves were known to inflict a lot of self-punishment, so perhaps it was natural that the types of violence that people predicted ranged from smashing one another with heavy objects to splinching one another.

With that conversation in mind, Teddy winced when he saw Seavelle's elves on his way into Potions the next morning. He hurried over to his own table and began unpacking his stuff when someone plunked down in the seat next to him.

"Hey Violet," he said without looking up.

He turned and noticed that Stephen had taken her normal seat. His brow was furrowed above his tinged cheeks, as if he didn't know the normal way to take a tablemate's seat and that this wasn't the type of thing people ususally fret about.

"Oh," Teddy said when Stephen didn't say anything. "I didn't know you were sitting there today."

"If that's alright?" Stephen asked.

"Of course," Teddy said.

Stephen nodded quickly and then began taking out his own books. As he was doing this he glanced down in the direction of Teddy's shoes and, without moving his lips, he muttered, "Do you have a moment to talk? About some things surrounding this class?"

"Isn't that something you would normally talk to her about?" Teddy said.

"Who?" Stephen asked. .

"Her," Teddy repeated slowly,.

"Right but which her?" Stephen said to the floor.

"Oh for goodness sake," Teddy said. He rapped his knuckles quickly on Stephen's elbow so that the other boy would meet his gaze. Teddy shook his head once in the direction of Violet's seat and then glanced back to make sure Stephen knew who he was talking about.

"So we're in agreement then?" Stephen said.

"What?"

But Steven didn't answer his question, instead he got up from his seat right as Violet had made it to the table.

"Are we switching seats today?" she asked them.

"Not today," Stephen answered as he quickly pushed his books over to his own desk.

"Alright," Violet said. She gave Teddy a confused look but all he could do was mirror this back at her.

"I was just asking Teddy if he would like to join us in the library this evening," Stephen said.

"Oh," Teddy said. "Right."

It was one of those strange Slytherian moments, where they either were waiting for you to answer an implicit question or to ask one of your own. Or maybe he had already done so? He really wasn't sure sometimes with them. After no one said anything for a moment, Fernius entered the room and mercifully started class.

To say Madame took end of the year exams very seriously was an understatement. They were beginning the first of what would be a month of test preparation classes. While most of the class met this with grim acceptance, Teddy was actually pleased. He had discovered, the next class after his detention, that rather than Madame teaching them an Imperius potion, the class was actually brewing _Compulsion_ Potions. Not that he had any idea what a Compulsion Potion was, as it was not in any of their school books, but he had actually been somewhat on the mark in comparing it to Imperius.

The reason Compulsion Potions weren't in any school book, which Fernius and Madame made clear in their extremely thorough lectures that followed, was that unlike most potions, this one relied heavily on the makeup of its brewers. While neither a book or they could explain how each group created their own potion, they could (and did) explain the effects of it. Like the Imperius, Compulsion Potions did carry with it a sort of numbness and a sort of pull. There were numerous differences though, and the two had gone to great lengths over these. For two weeks, they carefully explained just how the potion used the brewer's own body, mind, and soul; to attract _not _ensnare, suggest _not _confound, call out _not _force the subject. Teddy had to ignore the feeling that they were specifically stretching the material out to remind him of his own accusation. He had been certain that everyone, the professors, the students, even the house elves were watching to see if he would react, but every time he moved his head quickly to catch someone, they weren't paying him the slightest bit of attention.

Finally, Madame seemed satisfied that the topic had been adequately addressed.

"And to think," she said, her eyes unusally playful, "it's probably the most important thing you will learn this year and it won't be on the exam."

Study sessions turned out to be going over the potions they had covered this year, only without the professor's notes on the chalkboard and without an opening demostration. Even though they had done far tougher potions over the year, Teddy's table had seemed to struggle that morning in putting together a decent cooling tonic.

It seemed that everyone else had similar struggles that class, as there was far more snapping up of book bags and muttering than the class usually displayed. Teddy had hoped that he could hurry up and get out of the classroom before his group could continue their previous bewildering conversation. Unfortunately, the much tidier Slytherians had gathered there stuff up first and were once again watching him as if waiting for him to answer their question.

"Uhm," he said as he pulled a bit at the back of his hair. "So what's the plan then?"

Stephen looked very surprised at the question. It took Teddy a moment to realize that he wasn't looking at him but at the small house elf waiting patiently behind him. Visions of house elves scrubbing one another to death filled his mind and for a moment Teddy wondered just what sort of alarming thing might come out of the house elf's mouth this time. Rowley was his proper classroom self however. He calmly reached into his jacket, pulled out a small white envelope and handed it to him.

"Thanks?" He offered to Rowley but the elf had already made the small pop that signaled his absence.

When Teddy glanced over at the two Slytherians, Stephen was glancing down at Violet's hands and shaking his head.

"Thanks," Violet said softly before the elf vanished once again.

Stephen, didn't bother to give either of them dirty looks, but instead made a beeline for the door.

"Guess we won't be going to the libary then," Teddy said to his cousin.

* * *

But he did go to the library that evening; he had planned on it anyway. In retrospect it was probably for the best that the Slytherian's didn't come along as his Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor friends would all be sitting nearby, trying (and probably failing in the Slytherian's eyes) to inconspicously monitor the conversation. The moment they would get him alone, everyone would want to know what Violet and Stephen were asking about. Would probably know the answer without even having to ask.

"Did you get it?" Kai called out in greeting.

"Get what?"

Kai reached into his book bag and then brandished a small white envelope as if it were a flag in battle.

"The miraculous invite... Did your last detention ruin your chances for Madame's next brain trust?" he said this with the same dangerous grin that he seemed to get before doing anything unsually reckless. Teddy glanced back and forth across the library as if any moment kids on flaming skateboards might burst through the stacks.

"I thought you weren't going to go?" Hannah said from her spot amongst the three Ravenclaw girls. "Or did that change in the last five minutes?"

That started a long arguement amongst the Ravenclaws about whether attending an event meant you actually supported it. Those kind of arguements seemed more like endurance tests to Teddy than anything else. He was relieved when Kaitlin called him over to help with her charms work.

"You three don't generally work together on this?" Teddy asked as Kaitlin, Clippy, and Suchin were all working on different subjects.

Kaitlin shrugged. "None of us like having other people copy our work. We really only study together for exams."

"Well you sometimes copy my work," Clippy said quietly.

"You two both copy mine," said Name. "Fairly often."

Kaitlin sighed. "Ok well we sometimes copy each others. But at the moment I could really use the help of someone who has already gone through this subject and wouldn't mind giving me all the answers."

"As wonderful as that sounds..." Teddy started but Kaitlin had her wand out.

He grabbed his off the table and cast a sloppy shield over his face but Kaitlin was aiming instead for his backpack. The bag made a strange hop, like an animal that had been smacked on it's rear, and a few loose papers, as well as Seavelle's envelope, shot up into the air. Kaitlin was already on her feet and grabbed the envelope before Teddy.

"The one spell Leonard taught me," she said. She smiled cheekily and not bothering to read it, handed the envelope back to Teddy.

It turned out that Kai was not the only one of his friends that had been invited to Seavelle's dinner for the first time. Hannah, Eloise, Mary, and Suchin were also invited. Kaitlin was the only one of them to not get the white envelope.

"I think I'm skipping this one," Teddy said.

She snorted. "Ok but don't do it on account of me. She's inviting every smart, non-punker in this school."

It sounded like Kaitlin thought the characterization was laughably offbase, although Teddy wasn't sure which part of it she was referring to.

"And anyway, this one's going to be in the kitchens, so you don't want to miss your triumphant return."

"What?" Teddy asked.

"Didn't you read it?" she asked him.

He ignored her and opened the letter.

_Dear Mr. Lupin,_

_I would be delighted if you joined us in what will surely be our final dinner event of this year. I noticed that I had unfortunately neglected to invite your friend Kai to our previous dinner and have hastened to correct that. There will be several new faces at this meal, I expect a spirited debate might occur. Since so many people will be eating with us that evening, I have moved the dinner to the kitchens. I daresay you know how to find that entrance, my elves will be on hand to help you through._

_Madame Seavelle._

Curiously, underneath the signature there was a smudge that looked like a child's fingerprint. He rubbed at it once and the above message vanished. In it's place it read:

_You can RSVP to me at any point. I will meet you in the fainting room. Rowley._

"So," Kaitlin said when he looked up from the letter. "Any more interest in the event?"

"I gotta go," Teddy said. He grabbed his stuff and raced out the door.

* * *

Moving through the hallways, he was once again struck by how exposed and vulnerable he now felt whenever he was without the Practical Map. Either Dewey or Kai currently had it, he didn't remember as the three of them had traded it back and forth so many times now that to get it you always needed to just check with each of them. He was once again cutting it very close to curfew, would almost certainly be heading back from the Fainting Room after curfew, but that wasn't a concern at the moment.

He was so focused on racing through the hallways that he almost missed the whisper. He had ran right past the source of the noise, not registering what he had heard when he realized that he was very near where he had initally heard that voice.

It was a whisper actually. It wasn't coming from the same door that he had originally stopped at but from directly across the hallway. He put his ear against the door and closed his eyes so as to better focus on the sound.

_Any update on the investigation?_

The speaker had a familiar voice, someone that Teddy had definitely heard before. He struggled to place a face to it when a second voice responded, sounding like a person might if they were underwater and if they were shouting at you from a great distance away.

_Six more at St Mungo's. One dead this time._

It was like taking a punch to the chest, he bent over for a moment to regain his breath, all the while making sure to keep his ear to the door.

_Dead?..._

There was a pause that seemed to stretch out indefinitely before the first voice spoke again.

_Do you still think it's him?_

_I'm not sure. What do you think?_

_Well..._

There was another pause that stretched even longer. Teddy closed his eyes again and concentrated on making his ear longer and wider in the off chance that he could hear more. It seemed to work as he could make out the ticking of the wall clock down the corridor. He concentrated even harder when the door that he was resting against burst open.

He was thrown backwards, landing painfully on his rear. He shot a hand into his robes and whipped his wand forward but immediately lowered it when he looked into the eyes of his attacker.

Neville Longbottom was standing above him, biting on his lip, his non wand hand balled into a tight fist, his wand hand tapping (in an oddly similar way to Kaitlin) against knee.

"My Office...Now"

* * *

Neville didn't say anything on the trek back. He moved so quickly that Teddy had to slightly jog to keep up with his pace. By the time they got to his office, Teddy was slightly winded.

"Professor," Teddy said quietly to his back.

Neville ignored him though and opened the door. Teddy opened his mouth once again but Neville just pointed to the chair by his desk.

Once Teddy had taken a seat at the desk, Neville closed the door behind him.

"One moment," he said quietly. He cast mufliato and a number of privacy charms that Teddy had witnessed Harry and Ron use a number of times before.

"Was anyone else with you?" he asked.

Teddy shook his head.

"Did anyone know that you were going to be there?" Neville asked.

Again Teddy shook his head.

Neville closed his eyes and sighed. The anger and worry on his face seemed to fade away into a few wrinkles by his eyes and a small frown.

"Ok, that's a bit better I suppose."

He stood up, aimed his wand to the ground in front of him and a moment later a blindingly bright small jumpy animal was watching the two of them curiously.

"Find Harry Potter, tell him that Teddy was the eavesdropper and that he is safe in my office."

The small, rodent like creature looked back and forth between the two of them and then in a flash it blasted through the door.

"Ok," Teddy said slowly. "I know I'm probably in a lot of trouble, and that obviously you, Harry and I need to talk about some things, but... Is your Patronus a gopher?"

Neville shook his head. "Believe me, any joke you might come up with, everyone else already has."

"Do they even work? Can that little thing ward off a dementor?" Teddy asked.

"Of course it does," Neville sputtered. "It's the emotions behind it that power a patronus not the size or shape or ferocity of the animal behind it. It's-" but he stopped there, shaking his head in disbelief. "No, we can have that discussion sometime in the future. Just what in Merlin's name were you doing outside that door tonight?"

"Well, I was on my way down to the fainting room when-"

"Wait," called Harry from the doorway. "Start over, I want to hear this as well."


	25. Chapter 25 It's All on the Record

**Chapter 25: It's All on the Record**

Teddy had often felt the respect and (strangely) the fear that other wizards showed his godfather. People were different around him; they tightened their posture and they spoke more carefully. To a certain extent, people did the same thing with Neville Longbottom. These were among the first men that Teddy ever knew though; it was difficult to marry their public persona to his own impressions.

Tonight, he could understand exactly how the wizarding public saw these two. They both stood shoulder to shoulder across from Teddy. It didn't seem comfortable, they were leaning against Neville's desk, but it didn't seem like either was concerned with being comfortable. Rather, it was exactly the sort of set up the Auror's used to interrogate people and Teddy suspected the looks and tone of voice they were using with him were not very different either.

"So, you were following Seavelle's elf to a secret den in the dungeons?" Harry asked. Before Teddy could answer he added, "How did you find out about this room? Does anyone else know about it?"

"The Fainting Room, yeah. I think Madame's house elves told a few of the Slytherian's about it. As far as I know, only a few people within their house know about it."

"You were on your way there," Neville cut in. "And on the way you happened upon a door with whispering behind it?"

"Well I probably would have run past it," Teddy admitted. "But I had overheard similar whispering on that corridor before this year."

"Twice!" Neville exclaimed. "Either you're spending an absurd amount of time sneaking around the classrooms or you're just one lucky kid."

Harry was shaking his head in grim amusement. "He's got that whole lightening rod for trouble thing that certain people are set with."

"I've been meaning to tell you," Teddy replied. "Neville too. But every time something else came up."

"Like what?" Neville asked.

"Like my recent conversation with Dr. Babbit in the kitchens."

Harry and Neville shared a concerned look at this but did not interrupt him as he explained how he followed a house elf into the kitchen and ran into the professor. He tried to recall Babbit's exact words but the only quote he was confident with was, "Tell him to speak with me himself."

"Well that certainly complicates things a bit," Harry said. He put his wand to his temple, closed his eyes and a moment later removed the silvery strand of a memory. Neville helpfully summoned a small vial from a drawer in his desk and gave it to Harry.

"Why are you so interested in Seavelle's elves anyway?"

Teddy hesitated for a moment here. There were a few things that he did not want to tell these two if he could avoid it.

"Why did your voice sound like it was coming from underwater?" he asked Harry.

His godfather frowned, pulled another memory from his head and placed it in the vial.

"You are not going to like to hear this, but at this point I don't really have a choice," Harry said. He nodded for Neville to take a seat and then after conjuring an easy chair for himself, he did the same.

"When sensitive information is stumbled upon, we have two options: memory charms or bringing the new person under the umbrella. More often that not, it makes more sense for us to remove the memory from the person."

He spoke each of these words quite deliberately and stared at him evenly. Something in Teddy told him that it was unwise to stare directly at a person threatening a memory charm, but he forced himself to match his stare.

"I'm not going to do that right now Teddy," Harry said quietly. "But you need to understand that it is something that_ I may have to do_ in the future. There are certain problems in this world that I will not let you get mixed up in. Even if it's not your fault. Do you understand?"

Teddy met Harry's gaze but did not say anything.

"Teddy..."

"I understand what you said."

An uncomfortable silence followed this where none of the three wizards seemed to want to look at another. Finally Harry cleared his throat.

"I assume that you had a good reason to follow Seavelle's elf down to the fainting room. That it's not related to Babbit or any siege attempt on the school, or dragon bandits, or any of the St. Mungo's activities."

"Right," Teddy quickly said.

"And that it's a matter that you can eventually explain to Neville."

"Er... Yeah, as soon as I speak to Rowley and a few friends, then I will explain everything."

Neville looked distinctly uncomfortable at the bargaining going on in his own office but didn't say anything.

"Alright then," Harry allowed. "You have a weird elf related mystery; we can talk about that later. Now I want you to think about everything _except_ your conversation with Babbit. Where was he coming from? Did anyone else know that he was there? Where was he going? What time of the night was this? Everything that you can tell me will help."

Teddy nodded. "It would be a lot easier if I knew how to store my own memories."

"Year Seven," Neville grunted. "Newt level charm."

"Year seven," Teddy repeated. "Figures."

As the two adults peppered him with questions about Babbit, Teddy was struck by how normal his conversation with the American had been. Why hadn't he questioned him about the strange elf behavior? Or about his knowing about their Room of Requirement trips (it would have been the perfect time to ask if he had in fact seen him during their second outing there). For the first time since that outing, he wondered if the Professor had cast a confounding or soothing charm without him knowing. He might have even used a memory charm considering how hazy the whole encounter now felt.

"When will you see him next?" Harry said. "I think its best that you avoid being with the professor from now on," he clarified. "When would you normally see him next?"

Teddy shrugged, "Well I suppose if I don't go to the Muggle Science Club anymore then I won't see him again. Unless he teaches one of the other classes."

Harry frowned. "He's taught other people's classes?"

"Just mine," Neville offered. "Needed an in."

"Oh," said Harry. "Alright, we'll its safe to assume that Teddy won't run into him."

"Yeah," agreed Teddy, after all, hadn't he only seen the Professor outside of class that one time. He grimaced though, remembering something that now sounded distinctly likely given how things were going for him this year.

"I forgot to mention one thing though. Madame is having a dinner party this weekend. I don't think she or Dr. Babbit like each other much but she mentioned that she is inviting a number of new people and that she expects a debate so I wouldn't be surprised if he was there."

He knew that his godfather wasn't stupid. That he likely was connecting Teddy's interest in Madame's house elves with this large dinner party. If he thought that though, he wasn't showing it.

"You invited to this soiree?" Harry asked Neville.

"Apparently not," replied Neville.

"Ok," Harry said after a moment's thought. "It's time we get an eyes and ears in one of these things. Your Gran says that you've become loads better in charms this year. Is that correct?"

"I wouldn't say loads," Teddy said. "But yeah."

"Neville, do you have some extra time to teach him the _Locoscribble _Charm?"

Neville eyed the mounds of paperwork on his desk (also sneaking a quick look in the direction of the windowsill where a tray of brightly colored flowers seemed to be resting against one another).

"I should have some time in the evenings."

Harry summoned a piece of parchment and a Muggle pen which he caught in one hand. With the other he pointed his wand at the two items, saying "Locoscribble" loudly and clearly.

"Neville's going to show you how to perform a note recording spell."

As he spoke the pen flew out of his hand and started to dance along the parchment.

"Wicked," whispered Teddy.

The pen zoomed just underneath the previous line it had written and neatly recorded Teddy's words.

"Don't think about using this in class, it's a reporter's account. You're not gaining any of the conversation unless you are processing it and putting it in your own words."

Teddy nodded, not taking his eyes away from the pen.

"Is he paying any attention to what I'm saying?" asked Harry.

"I don't think so," replied Neville. "But after a few hours of practice this week I suspect the intrigue will have diminished."

Harry released the spell and banished the pen and parchment back to the desk.

"For your cover story, you're not going to Neville's office to learn charms work, you're going to be serving two week's worth of detentions for being caught sneaking out past curfew numerous times this year."

"One week" corrected Teddy. "The dinner is this Friday."

"Two weeks," repeated Harry before he got up from his seat. He clapped Teddy once on the back, shook Neville's hand and then was off.

* * *

To his credit, Neville did not pressure Teddy to explain himself over the next few evenings while they worked on the Locoscrible spell. From the moment Teddy entered his office each evening, until the clock struck nine, signaling the end of that day's work, he maintained the steady, encouraging manner that he exhibited in his Herbology classes.

It was interesting working with Neville on charms. He was a wonderful professor, able to sense when his pupil's weren't following his words, able to keep material light and interesting, patient and with a cheery sort of humor. He wasn't any good at charms though, as Teddy realized within the first few minutes of their tutoring. For one thing, it took Neville a few tries to get the spell to work. Over the course of that week his ability to perform the spell would come and go without warning. Teddy suspected that he would be better off asking one of the Ravenclaw girls or even Kai, but didn't bother bringing this up as he knew that both Neville and Harry were adamant that his quick quilling would remain a secret at Seavelle's party.

Teddy wasn't sure he would be able to do the spell by Friday though. By the end of their first lesson all he had managed to do was get the pen to fly randomly around the room, scribbling away on the wall, on a plant leaf, even on Neville's forehead (before he swatted it angrily away).

Not wanting to embarrass Neville on his lacking charm's abilities, and also being strangely annoyed at _not_ being able to perform a charm after having learned so many in charms class and club, Teddy took an unprecedented step in his academic career. On Thursday, he went to the library during his lunch period and sought out materials that a professor hadn't asked him to read.

Ironically enough, it was in a Charms practical, "Five Locomoto Charms" that he found the clearest and most helpful description of the spell. No one questioned him when he pulled out the large blue practical at dinner, the people at his table would say that they had seen him do this plenty of times that year. Studying the practical, Teddy discovered that the problem was in the wrist motion, that he should have been rotating it (like a person does when unlocking a door). How Neville had managed the spell at all was beyond him.

"Close the door," Neville said, when Teddy entered his office that evening. "Let's get right to it. I was thinking about our progress and-"

Teddy held up his hand to stop Neville mid-sentence. He picked the parchment and pen off of Neville's desk, said "Locoscribble" and slowly did the hand motion.

The pen flew out of his hand and calmly hovered above the parchment.

"Bloody hell," Neville said.

They both laughed when the pen chronicled these words on the parchment.

* * *

It was more than a little strange to go to the kitchen's and be escorted through the bowl of fruit painting by one of Seavelle's extremely composed house elves. The room had been reorganized for the evening; the long tables (underneath each house table) were absent. Instead, a massive circular table, with seats for thirty or so people took up the center of the room. Teddy made his way over cautiously, as if he was an intruder about to be caught at any second.

"There he is!" called Clippy. He was seated near all of Teddy's friends, and had clearly saved a seat for him.

Teddy was grateful for a spot that was far away from Rolf Pruitt, Rowena Bixby, and Madame Seavelle. They were all sitting on the opposite end of table along with several Slytherian's that were attending for the first time, a few Gryffindor's (including their prefect Vin) and several adults that Teddy did not recognize. Dr Babbit was nowhere to be found, although the table still had plenty of empty seats.

Even with the empty seats, the room was much noisier than it had been at the previous dinner parties. It sounded much more like the Flying Park nights than Madame's cozy kitchen. Kai sat on Teddy's other side. Apparently whatever disdain he had expressed towards the previous "pretentious" dinners was long gone as he rapidly filled Teddy in on the various adults in attendance.

"And that's Tabatha Moore, she's an heir to the West Hogsmede Developments."

"The what?" Teddy asked. He wondered why he was whispering.

"Nevermind," Kai said, waving this question off. "Next to her is Adrian Fortescue. Yes, that Fortescue, the proprietor of his father's store- and from the looks of his build, a frequent customer as well."

"How do you know all of this?" asked Teddy.

"The girls have been going on about it," Kai replied.

This came as a bit of a shock to Teddy. He had always considered the three Ravenclaw girls to be a stark contrast to the silly, Seavelle obsessed girls in his class (and others). They had never expressed any interest in these parties before. Glancing over at them though, he couldn't decide if it was his imagination or if they were more made up and appealing than they had looked at Winterlude.

He half listened to Kai explain the other guests, half-listened to Clippy explain to Suchin how the previous parties had gone, but mostly, he was waiting for his friends to ignore him for a moment. When he was certain that no one was paying attention, he carefully unrolled a parchment on his lap. He couldn't see what he was doing as the tablecloth blocked the view from him (and more importantly the world) but he laid the pen on the parchment anyway. He pulled his wand from his pocket, being careful to not shift and drop everything to the floor. He whispered the spell, hoping to quickly sneak a peak at the parchment but Dewey had brought up his week of detentions and he found himself explaining to his friends the sort of tedious and dirty Herbology work Neville would surely employ in his detentions. He made sure to harp a bit about how boring some of the plants were that he worked with, causing him to smile when he got the chance to verify that the pen was in fact furiously scribbling away everything said, and that Neville would be reading those words.

"Welcome everyone," said Seavelle. Her voice seemed to be coming not from her spot at the table but from the walls themselves. The immediacy behind the noise startled people around the table, several people jumping a bit in their seats.

"We are still waiting on a few people, but unfortunately they will need to get caught up on the conversation themselves, good food and drink deserve to be enjoyed not discussed. My house elves will be around momentarily to take your orders. Don't hesitate to ask for a bottle of wine to share amongst the group; I won't."

As she took her seat, large platters of hors d'oeuvre appeared along every few seats. Suddenly starved, Teddy found himself grabbing a half dozen toothpicks of water chestnuts wrapped in bacon along with a plate of egg rolls and ravioli shish kabobs.

"You think there's another kitchen underneath this one where the house elves are making these?" asked Clippy.

Teddy smiled but chose to keep eating rather than talk.

"Told you he was coming," said Kai softly.

Teddy glanced in the direction of the door. Dr. Babbit was being escorted by Rowley towards their table. There was an open seat next to Suchin, three seats down from Teddy, and this is where Rowley placed him.

Something was different about Babbit that evening, he looked strange. It took Teddy and his friends a few moments to realize that he had shaved off his massive, chaotic beard. He looked much younger than he normally did.

"Is that you James?" called Madame Seavelle from across the table.

Babbit nodded. "Yes," he shouted, then, realizing that the room was enchanted to amplify any person speaking to the group, and thus he had just bellowed this, said, "sorry, yes it's me. Thank you very much for the invite."

"How do we make sure that our voices don't get picked up across the room," Clippy whispered to Teddy.

"I would advise against talking," he replied.

This would be easier said than done though. Seavelle seemed determined to bring the entire group into the conversation. Picking right up where they had left themselves, as if it had just been a few moments rather than months between these evenings, she asked the Slytherian prefect, Ursula, what she thought the motivations were behind the Dragon Bandits.

"If there are Dragon Bandits," Ursula replied, "then they probably are obsessed with attention."

"They're taking an awful risk just to get their names in the Prophet," said Pruitt. "The property damage alone, not to mention the potential risk each attack of theirs has done to the wizarding public, could bring them years and years in Azkaban."

One of the Slytherian's sitting nearby (Teddy wasn't sure if he was a sixth or seventh year) leaned forward and said, "yes but you need a conviction to be put in Azkaban. And to get a conviction, the wizengamot requires solid evidence. And if the Auror's have suggested anything its that they haven't found any of that."

Then the boy did an obnoxious thing. He turned and looked directly at Teddy for a moment, his mouth curved in a tight little smile.

"I wouldn't go that far, Remy," said Seavelle. "The Auror's brought followers of Voldemort to court years after his reign. Each time it took our world by complete surprise."

Rowena Bixby nodded. "Yes I would admit that if the Auror's can do one thing well it's keep their business within. Unlike the Ministry, or the Prophet—sorry Buzz."

She said this last line offhandedly and did not look like she was sorry at all for saying it. For his party, the Prophet reporter, Lewis Hobfly didn't seem to take this as a jab. Then again, thought Teddy, why would he be embarrassed? Wasn't it a reporter's job to deal with leaked information?

"You know who I would be curious to hear his thoughts on this?" asked Seavelle. "Dr Babbit, what is your take on the Auror's investigation?"

Anyone in the room would probably read this as a conciliatory gesture. Her gentle tone of voice, her warm smile, it seemed like she was trying to make nice with a staff member that she had publicly quarreled with. And yet, the question itself, assuming Seavelle knew of Babbit's prior trouble with the law, and Teddy suspected that she would have some idea of this, well, that was a peculiar question to bring him into the conversation. It was far more challenging than her tone and demeanor suggested.

If Babbit thought this way, he didn't show it. "My opinion seems to be as good as anyone's here. I don't know what is behind the Dragon Bandits."

"Surely you must have read about their attacks in the Prophet though," said Seavelle.

Babbit shrugged. "With respect to Mr. Hobfly, there is not much information there besides accounts of the damage."

"What were the criminal investigators like in America?" asked Seavelle.

This time, despite her friendly tone of voice, the question sounded outright hostile and people around the table grew very still.

"The same as they are over here," replied Babbit. "And we have attention seeking thugs over there too. I don't pay them much heed."

"Wow," Clippy whispered to Teddy. He nodded in agreement.

Seavelle raised her eyebrows as if a bit scandalized by Babbit's words. She shook her head slightly and then glanced around the room.

"I suppose we better keep the topics away from law enforcement," she said.

Babbit resumed his impassive face at this, returning his expression back to his food.

"You know what I've been thinking about since our last dinner," Rowena Bixby said to break the silence. "We had that fascinating discussion about the Philosopher's Stone, about how it was one of the only minerals that we knew of that was permanently transfigured."

Professor Curr, who had been sitting quietly near Dr. Babbit, glanced up from his own food for the first time that evening.

"But then the conversation moved on to how long an object can be transfigured, which obviously you two had a much-discussed conversation," she nodded to Babbit and Seavelle. "But what we never did discuss was the actual stone itself."

Noticing that everyone in the room had relaxed a bit and were hanging on her every word, Bixby took a long sip from her glass before plunging forward. "I heard that it was the most magnificent shade of ruby red, a red like a dying ember, and that despite its density and hard surfaces, if you rapped your knuckles against it, it would sing faintly."

Everyone around the room looked quite taken with this notion- everyone except Professor Curr and Dr. Babbit. Teddy noticed the two exchange a look and shake their heads slightly.

"I mean isn't anyone curious?" Bixby pressed on, "it was within these very walls not too long ago."

"I do wish your godfather was here," Seavelle said to Teddy. "He's the only person alive that could verify Rowena's description of the stone."

"I don't think he would have much to add," Teddy said.

"Yes, but surely he must have mentioned it when you were growing up. About how heavy it was or about what the surface design looked like."

Teddy shook his head, and then looked down at his own food.

"I'm surprised," Seavelle pressed on, "surely after all the talk this year about such a stone why wouldn't you be curious about it?"

This wasn't a question. Teddy understood this before looking up from his plate and meeting her challenging expression.

"I'm more curious about your predicting a Dragon Bandit's attack before it occurred."

Many adults (and a few students) made indignant noises at this, including Pruitt, who dropped his utensils onto his plate.

Seavelle did not respond for a moment. She let everyone around her murmur while she finished the last sip of her wine glass. She took her time pouring another and when she had taken a sip of this and set it back down, calmly asked, "I wonder, Mr. Lupin, if it were just the two of us, would you still feel obligated to accuse me of nefarious plots?"

Teddy felt his cheeks flush and tried to take deep calming breaths.

"Assuming you are right and I knew about a Dragon Bandit attack before it occurred..." she said slowly, pausing for a bit to let him know just how ridiculous this sounded. "What could I possibly gain from gossiping about it beforehand? I would be implicated myself. I would be flagging the world to the attack. Actually that's the only possible reason a person _would _tell a group. They would be telling a group that included a representative of the Daily Prophet and the Headmistress of the school. So, let's just put this to rest, rather than let whatever new worry of yours fester into a full blown conspiracy, no Teddy, I did not predict a Dragon Bandit attack before it occurred."

He knew that he had been redressed for his impertinent comment. He knew that his accusation had been far ruder than her asking once again about the Philosopher's Stone. He knew that his friends were mortified (that Violet would likely not be speaking with him for the remainder of the year), and of course he knew that the quick quill was recording this entire exchange.

"I'm not accusing you of anything Madame," he said, ignoring everyone but her. "I just thought it was curious that you had mentioned how terrible it would be if the Dragon Bandits knocked a third story apartment into the street. They did that didn't they?"

"I don't care if you are the godson of the head Auror," Pruitt sputtered. "You are accusing Madame of being involved in a terrible thing."

"I am not," Teddy shot back.

"Madame, you have nothing to explain," said Bixby.

Seavelle frowned at her; she looked like the whole exchange was incredibly tiring to her.

"Let's say this," said Madame. "We were all horrified to hear about that particular attack on Hogsmede. This isn't the first time the Dragon Bandits have destroyed an upper story of a building and I doubt it will be the last. Mr. Lupin, has consistently lived up to his reputation, someone either improbably noble or improbably thickheaded; possibly both."

There was laughter around the room at this. Coming from everywhere but Teddy's friends, from Babbit, and from Teddy himself.

"One last thing before we call this evening to close," said Madame. "I want to clear the air about a persistent rumor involving my house elves."

The house elves, all engaged in collecting dishes and clearing the table, all disappeared at this.

"While yes, there was a disagreement between two of my elves, we managed to settle it in a civic and reasonable fashion. There will be no banishment, no self-flagellation, and there will certainly be no Goodfellow Dance."

No one was certain how to respond to this statement. Eventually, Pruitt offered a polite applause and the rest of the room tepidly joined him. To make things stranger, the four house elves rejoined the group, to which everyone immediately stopped clapping. People started to get up from their seats to put on coats and mill out. Teddy was eager to put on his own jacket and head out but he had to undo the Locoscribble charm and didn't want to do so until his friends were up and putting on their own coats.

As he was sitting there, pretending to be engrossed in the last of his desert, he noticed that Seavelle was helping Pruitt into his own jacket. The two were talking, or Pruitt was facing away from her and she was talking to his ear, when she reached into her pocket, slipped out a small envelope and placed it into Pruitt's jacket. It happened so quickly that Teddy had to wonder if he imagined it or not. Neither adult turned to see if anyone had noticed, Pruitt simply turned, kissed her on both cheeks and headed out.

Teddy whispered down at the last crumbs of pie on his plate.

"I think I might know the point behind these dinner parties after all. No one searches the mail that is smuggled in or out."


	26. Chapter 26 Chloe's Letter

**Chapter 26: ****Chloe's Letter**

When Teddy entered Neville's office the following evening, he was surprised to find the man leaning over (and speaking into) a small stone basin. Not noticing him, Teddy quietly made his way over to the desk to get a better look.

It was a curious object, about a foot wide and a foot deep. Curious not just because it seemed to resemble a curved, stone square; but also because of the relief pattern cut into the stone face. Scenes of spear wielding Merpeople rushing towards a fierce looking squid became a gathering of Mmerpeople, holding the end of a rope and swimming around a large pole which became a great of feast under the sea.

But more curious to Teddy, when he tip-toed closer and was able to look down into what looked like boiling water (but it couldn't be) was seeing Harry Potter's face engaged in conversation with Neville. He didn't appear to be underwater, or at least he didn't seem concerned that the water might be boiling, or, that people normally needed to breath underwater; but, when Harry did speak, the noise began as a burst of tiny bubbles that shot upwards and then popped at the surface, becoming, in a strangely disconnected way, a conversation stitched together through all its component parts.

Harry noticed Teddy first."Greetings from the lands beyond!" he said, his voice sounding even more distant and distorted then Teddy had remembered.

"The land's beyond?" Neville chuckled. "What was it the first time you contacted me?"

Harry grinned. "Greetings from the bottom of the lake."

"So you're not under the lake?" Teddy asked.

Harry's laugh came across as a percussive burst of bubble pops.

No he wasn't under the lake. Nor was he under the ocean or anything exciting like that. Apparently, he was leaning into the bath tub in the Potter mansion. Harry had tried to explain the process to him but it seemed needlessly complicated. Neville's "Underwater Floo" being a much simpler way to describe it.

Teddy took the slightly awkward seat on one of the corners of the desk where he could both see Harry-in-the-basin and his Head of House. Meanwhile, Neville had unfurled the scroll containing the previous evening's transcript and was reading it out loud.

The two adults reacted largely how Teddy had expected (Neville had indeed snorted when Teddy described the boring, Herbology-related detentions that he had served, Harry had chaffed at the line of Seavelle's questioning) but their take away was different than he would guessed.

"I can't believe there wasn't a single mention of the St. Mungo's activities," Neville muttered.

Harry and Neville had taken to referring to the deposited muggles at the hospital in this way.

"I know," agreed Harry. "I mean you got to think that she's linked Babbit in with those occurrences right?"

"I would think so. If we know about his past, and clearly she's got some idea about it, then you would think that she would be connecting the dots."

Teddy remained silent as the two adults discussed their theories on Seavelle and Babbit. It was fascinating hearing them mull through these ideas if only because this was the first time that year that either had been open in front of him. He worried that if he were to offer his opinion, they would realize that he was in fact there and send him on his way.

Neville sighed. "Babbit though..."

Harry nodded. "I know."

Neither spoke for awhile. Finally Harry shook his head. "Alright, let's go through it again. Teddy, you read this time."

* * *

Teddy only ended up serving two more nights of detentions ("Really just two detentions in all" Neville reminded him at the end of his punishment). It wasn't all that much of a relief as he went from detention nights to rejoining the rest of his friends in endless study sessions.

When had it happened? When had everyone he associated with become so concerned with exams and grades? Kai and the Ravenclaws he could expect. Dewey (from his association with Eloise) he could expect. But Kaitlin and Clippy spending hours of silence with them in the library? He hadn't asked them to—hadn't even known they would be there. But there they were, Suchin too (he wasn't as much of a surprise), along with Mercy and Sung Hee, Albus and Colin, April and Julie, and even some of the Punkers.

"Well, either you're studying or you're in a noisy Common room" Dewey said as way of explanation that next night in the library. "It makes sense that everyone is turning to the library."

Kai and the Ravenclaws didn't share the same casual acceptance of the Hufflepuff though. They tended to look up irritably when people were chatting in the library, staring at the noise offenders until they eventually noticed, sheepishly smiled and quieted down (for a few minutes at least).

Teddy wasn't overly concerned with the exams. He felt like he was more prepared now than he had been at any point in the previous year, and he had a whole week left to revise anyway. Actually, he had the opposite problem, he was more interested in Neville and Harry's discussion of Seavelle and Babbit's discussion about other discussions connected to all sorts of strange and mysterious things. To think that Kai was worried about the six properties of the Everglow Charm, or that Leonard was trying to figure out the antidote to root vine. Those were the type of questions where answers could be easily found in books held in the school library. The more interesting things were the mysteries without any answers out there.

What had caused the rift between Seavelle's elves? Why was Babbit down in the kitchen that evening? Why did Seavelle care so much about the Philosopher's stone? Why did Harry and Neville seem so determined to link Babbit to the St. Mungo's activities?

Each of these questions were like stars that had smaller, more interesting questions orbiting them. A person could spend hours breaking down the various answers. But that was the thing, not only was he forbidden from discussing these things with his friends, but he actually had a very smart alternative to pursue. There was now, at any free moment of his day, a book in front of his face for him to read.

So he did. To the best of his abilities anyway. And the days slowly ticked by. He revised with his friends, he revised by himself. He spent an evening with Professor Curr and a few kids from his Transfiguration class. Halfway through, Curr broke the study session into two small groups, leading one himself and asking Teddy to lead the other one. Another night he met with Violet and Stephen White in the library. Any angry or hurt feelings were absent for three solid hours where they talked nothing but of Potion's ingredients, processes, complications, and antidotes.

The weekend came and nothing changed. Saturday morning, he and his friends went right from the Great Hall to the library. The only bright spot of what would surely be a tedious day of studying was that he had received his first letter in quite a while at breakfast. His heart had skipped a beat upon seeing the owl carrying the unmistakably over-stamped white envelope of Chloe.

He hadn't wanted to open it in front of everyone at the table. So he waited till he was in the library, till everyone had their books open and were absorbed in the material. He made an excuse that he needed to find some books and found a secluded corner of the library. With trembling hands he ripped open the letter. It was longer than her others, so he slumped down on the floor and read.

_Dear Teddy,_

_So much has happened recently. Firstly though, I'm fine. Well not fine exactly, but I'm ok. I'm much better than I was around this time last year (although that probably isn't exactly reassuring to someone like you) but things have finally returned to normal._

_The next time you speak with your godfather, make sure you tell him thank you for me. He was the most calming and reassuring person that I could have hoped for in that hospital. He was there every day for those weeks that I was there, even after I was declared stable but they were keeping me for observation._

"What?" he said to the letter. She was there for weeks? Hadn't his family mentioned that it was just a day or two with the people there?

_I mean I understand that he wasn't there just for me. That I was a witness—or at least that's how they classified me. How can one be a witness when they don't remember days before or after the actual incident though? But anyway, obviously being a witness in a murder investigation would bring someone like Harry Potter around each day._

"What?" he said out loud for the second time in a minute. She was part of the murder investigation?

_But I got the feeling that even if I wasn't in that position, that he would have visited, so please thank him. It's funny, I was pretty sure that I was going to make a trip to Hogwarts before the year was over. That I was going to surprise you one day, showing up in my old uniform, with my old wand and my new books, and tell you that I was going to be a Gryffindor again._

"What?" Teddy whispered to the letter.

_I had been studying all year. I studied every subject, even the ones that I used to think were dumb , like Astronomy. Weirdly, that was the only one that I could really do anything with. Muggles and Wizards can guess at the stars equally. All of the other subjects though, well, mastering the hand movements and carefully enunciating words won't do you any good if you don't have a magical core._

"You're lucky," Teddy said. "Had you been able to perform any magic, you would have gotten in trouble with the ministry."

_That was the hardest part about waking up in that hospital again. Not the loss of a week of my life. Not the knowledge that some creep (or maybe some creeps, no one seems to know) might have done things to my mind and body. No, the worst part was that all year long I had been holding out hope that magic was like a muscle. That if I focused on the right parts of myself, and I practiced hard enough, that eventually I would start to grow the tiny, damaged bits of magic still within me. After thinking about it for weeks and weeks, I convinced myself that all I needed was time and effort. _

_But when I woke up in the hospital, the first thing I was told was that my magical core was indeed gone. That I was indistinguishable from the other Muggles that had been dropped off. They had run tests when I was asleep—they had my file and found out that at one point in time I had magic—so they ran all sorts of tests. Every single one confirmed it. I am 100% squib._

_So that was very difficult to hear. I felt like such an idiot. And I might have just asked one of the mediwitches there to wipe my memory clean—it had been wiped apparently a number of times this year so what was once more?_

"What," Teddy whispered once more.

_But then your godfather showed up and talked with me. He told me about some of the stuff you and everyone have gotten into this year (and I bet he only knows the half of it). Sometime around then I decided that I wanted my mind as is. Which explains why you are getting this letter._

_I hope to see you and your family sometime this summer. I have a feeling I will be talking with the Aurors anyway. Let me know when it would be a good time for this. Also, I know this letter has been all about me, but as I've said before, watch out Teddy. There is something going on out there. I have no idea what, but whoever it is, they are dangerous and they have not yet been caught. Be smart._

_Love,_

_Chloe._

Tears welled up in Teddy's eyes as he folded the letter and placed in back into his pocket. Suddenly, the prospect of studying seemed even more absurd. He needed to go speak with Harry right away.

He strode over to the table to collect his stuff. A few of his friends glanced at him with concerned looks.

"You ok?" Dewey asked.

He nodded quickly, swinging his book bag over his shoulder and hurried out of the room.

* * *

It took him a few seconds, as he hurried away from the library, to realize that he had no idea how he was going to speak to Harry. He had taken for granted the notion that Harry was a person that would be found whenever he was needed. He was always showing up in that way, wasn't he?

He tried the practical map, and searched Neville Longbottom's office to see if the professor was there. He wasn't, and he wasn't in his quarters, in his classroom, the teacher's lounge, or even in their common room.

Once again, he was painfully aware of being unable to perform the spell that would offer a straightforward solution to this situation. How many times had he seen a professor or a family member send a patronus message to another? If could just flick his wand and create his own bright animal to search out Neville, perhaps the lump in his throat would go and his heart would stop yammering away.

This was a useless way of thinking though and shaking his head rapidly seemed to throw the idea right away. He knew of one other way for him to contact his godfather; although it was by no means a comfortable task. Perhaps he had known ever since reading the letter that he would be doing it though, because before he even knew for certain where he was going, he stopped in front of a door flanked by a pair of gargoyles. He rapped his fist against the door twice and waited for the headmistress to let him in.

It had been a few months since Teddy had last been in Llewleyn's office. Very little had changed, her desk was still covered by mounds of paperwork, newspapers, and file folders. He noticed that a decanter of liquid and two empty glasses were placed along the windowsill.

"Mr. Lupin?" the headmistress asked him by way of greeting.

"Hello Headmistress."

He was surprised to find the headmistress not wearing her customary school robes, but rather, to be in a thick gray sweater and dark corduroy pants. For the first time since knowing her, she had her long brown hair loose from its tight bun. She looked very much like one of his Gran's friends stopping by for tea and biscuits.

"Is everything alright?" she asked him. "This is the first time this year that I have seen you in my office."

Teddy almost corrected her on this, but then realized that the last time he was in this office, the headmistress had believed he was a house elf.

"I'm fine ma'am; however, something very important has just come up, and I need to reach Harry Potter right away."

Llewellyn didn't seem surprised by this request. She nodded in a conversational way. "And you are certain that he would agree that this warrants me contacting him?"

Teddy wasn't certain of this but he nodded anyway.

"Very well," she said.

On one corner of her desk, she had a small golden lamp (which very much resembled the type in the Aladdin legend) which she opened up and extracted a handful of floo powder. She crossed the room and knelt next to the fireplace, and threw the powder into the tidy fire. It burst into a large green blaze, to which she leaned her head forward and shouted, "Potter Mansion."

There was a fairly long wait, while the headmistress was perched in the fireplace. Teddy wasn't sure if he should make conversation or not. Thankfully, Ginny Potter's voice eventually responded.

"I'm sorry Maire, but Harry's on work business."

Llewellyn glanced back in Teddy's direction, a look of regret on her face.

"Teddy?" said Ginny. "Is everything alright?"

Teddy started to nod, and merely tell her that he had some questions for Harry, but wasn't sure of any that would be smart to bring up in front of the headmistress. Instead, to his immense surprise, he began recounting everything that Chloe had said in her letter.

"And she had her memory wiped multiple times. Harry didn't tell me that," he said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "She was trying to develop her magical abilities so she could come back here."

The two adults shared a long look before Ginny sighed. "I'm so sorry to hear that Teddy," she said. "I had no idea that she was holding out hope for something like that."

Llewelyn hurried over to her desk and searched through her piles of folders. She extracted a daily prophet article out and began to read.

"Maple Kattentail, 84 year old squib from Ottery St Catchpole, shocked her neighbors this week when she performed a lumos spell from her dinner ladel. Two healers from St. Mungo's were able to confirm that Kattentail was able to repeat the spell at will (this time with a real wand). Kattentail is only the third wizard in the past century to show signs of magic after being declared a squib."

Llewelyn put the paper down and smiled. "Never give up hope."

* * *

Lunch that afternoon felt very strange. The Great Hall was as full as ever, but it was as quiet as the library. All along the house tables, students were holding books in front of their faces with one hand, their other hands unconsciously picking bits of food off their plate and stuffing it in their mouths. Those that were studying with others, kept their voices low. Even the teachers at the main table were keeping their conversations unnaturally low; as if they were worried they might distract their focused students.

Teddy also had a book in front of his face but he couldn't concentrate enough to get from one sentence to the next. He had reread the letter after leaving the headmistresses office. He was struck by just how big of a story that letter contained. The_ Prophet _had offered quite a different account of the bodies deposited at St. Mungo's. Did they not know that Chloe (and possibly others) had a week's worth of memories wiped? How could they not know how long she had been there? How could they have missed that one of the bodies that showed up was dead? Were the Auror's pressuring them to keep the stories quiet? Chloe's letter hadn't weighed in on any of these matters. If anything, she seemed indebted to the Auror's involvement in her stay.

He thought about her plans to re-enroll in the school. It was the saddest aspect of the letter of course, but it also seemed to confirm her Gryffindorness. He also thought about the article that the headmistress had read for them. Was magic the sort of thing that a person really could will back into their lives? Maybe if she kept reading the right materials, figuring out the right wand movement, and connecting the right theories in her mind, maybe she could be the fourth ex-squib in their world?

He glanced up at the staff table to find his Head of House but instead found Dr. Babbit staring in his direction. Unlike his previous glances where he felt like Babbit was searching inside Teddy's mind, this time the Professor seemed unusually confused. He wouldn't have been surprised if Babbit mouthed, "Is it just me or is something very odd going on."

If he did say that, then Teddy would have nodded. But he didn't say anything, rather he looked at Teddy for a moment more and then turned away.

Suddenly, the silence of the room seemed oppressive. Teddy put down his half eaten sandwich and got up from the table. Everyone around him was so absorbed with their books and conversations that no one noticed him leave. No sooner had he left the Great Hall though, then a hand reached out and grabbed his arm.

He turned to find a very determined looking Violet.

"I need your help, but I need to know that you won't tell anyone. Especially you're Godfather or your family."

"What?" Teddy asked.

She grabbed one of his hands and started walking quickly down the stairs towards the dungeons. Once again he marveled at her ability to move as rapidly as she did with such short legs. At the Fainting Room entrance she got on her tippy toes to reach the torch and open the door. Once they were inside she repeated herself.

"I need your help, but you can't speak to Harry, Ron, Hermoine, Ginny or anyone else."

When he didn't answer her right away, she closed her eyes and took a calming breath.

"Teddy, I know it puts you in a difficult spot but please just give my your word that I can speak with you about something that for the time being needs to be between us."

"Ok," he said quietly.

"I've finally figured it out. Rowley and Bothers, the map, her missing meals, Fernius and Babbit."

"Fernius and Babbit?" Teddy asked.

Violet slapped her forehead. "Merlin—I forgot that I hadn't told you about that. We haven't talked much lately."

"We haven't talked much this whole year."

She bit her lip guiltily, which made him feel guilty for saying it (even if it were true).

"Madame's ill," Violet whispered. "Very ill. There is a room in the back of the infirmary that she head's off to at meals. I'm not sure if it's unplottable or if it's connected to the school like the Shrieking Shack."

"How do you know about this?" Teddy asked.

"Rowley confirmed it. I finally got a chance to speak with him last night and he was able to show me the room."

"And the map?" Teddy asked.

"I'll get to that—anyway she's been going to this room more and more. Apparently she's been sleeping there and eating there, and even teaching from there."

"Teaching?"

Violet nodded sadly. "She's on all of these potions and some of them cause her to forget where she is, or to put her mind into a different time and place."

An image of Seavelle, bent over an empty table and dropping imaginary ingredients into nothing filled Teddy's mind.

"Rowley had seen her do this a few times and wanted to help her, but none of her other elves thought it was a good idea. I think he asked you and I to help so that we would figure it out on our own and get another professor to check into her medications."

"Oh," Teddy said quietly.

"I know," Violet said. "When we didn't, he went and swapped out some of the potions himself with a few pain reducing potions. The other house elves found out and they came very close to dueling amongst themselves. Fortunately Babbit of all people intervened."

"When was this?" Teddy asked, although he was pretty certain of the answer.

"A few weeks ago," Violet replied. "I'm not sure exactly when. Anyway he and Fernius got into a screaming match in Madame's quarters the next night. They had their wands out when Madame came in, confronted them, and found out about the whole mess."

"She didn't know?" Teddy asked.

"She didn't know that the house elves were close to killing one another, and she didn't know, until Babbit told her, that the medicines she was experimenting with were extremely dangerous."

Violet waited for a moment while Teddy processed all of this. "Ok," he said, "so what did she do?"

"That's the thing, I spoke to Rowley (who was watching this entire exchange along with the other house elves) and the three talked for hours that evening about Madame's illness. About what potions she was taking for what symptoms, and how when that started to not work, what new potions she started to take. Babbit's apparently got a brilliant potions mind."

Violet said this last statement very reluctantly.

"But none of them could come up with any ideas. All they could agree on was that she couldn't take the same combination of potions as before."

"And what about the map?" Teddy repeated.

She took a deep breath. "Ok…" She paused and then started again, "Ok, so I know this is going to sound crazy, but Rowley swore that he's seen her walk through a wall."

"Walk through a wall?" Teddy repeated. "Like a ghost."

Violet scrunched up her face, "I know. I know it sounds crazy. But Rowley says that he and the other elves have seen her walk through the walls in her quarters."

"But she's not a ghost," Teddy said slowly. "She lifts books up, she eats things- I've shaken her hand."

"I know," Violet said. "I know, it's the only part of the story that doesn't sound right. Rowley said it started after she was taking all those potions, but I know that it doesn't make any sense."

Suddenly it felt like this entire story relied too heavily on a house-elf's fantastic account. Violet must have sensed this because she quickly changed the subject.

"That's not that important though. The key thing is I finally realized why she's so obsessed with the Philosopher's Stone."

"Really?" Teddy said, his heart leaping a bit.

"I was wondering about it all year. I mean she kept harassing you about it at her dinners. She's always reading Transfiguration books during our Potion's classes. She had that debate in front of the whole school which was about nothing but that stone."

Teddy nodded. "She does seem obsessed with it."

"She's desperate," Violet said quietly. "She admitted to Fernius that night after Babbit left. She had spent all year researching her illness. There isn't a cure. The only thing that will prolong her life is to use the stone."

Teddy frowned. "But it's been destroyed."

Violet nodded, excited it seemed to finally be at the root of the matter. "The stone was, but not the work."

"Flamel's work," Teddy whispered, as he remembered Hermione's words.

"She is convinced that a few of the early trial stones along with a great deal of his notes exist."

"How do you know?"

"Because I confronted her."

"You what?" cried Teddy.

"Rowley had told me everything this morning, and I was sick of just watching from the sidelines. I went to her quarters before breakfast, her elves woke her up, and we talked for quite awhile."

"She admitted to you about her illness."

Violet nodded, her expression becoming very serious. "And about the stone. I'm the only person that she told this to. One of the few people that she can trust."

Teddy was impressed but also hadn't forgotten Violet's earlier request.

"You know what she said?" Violet asked. "She said, 'If anyone else talked to me the way your cousin does, I would personally make sure that they would never step forth into this school again.'"

"What?" Teddy muttered.

"She said, your cousin isn't always correct with his hunches, but that he is the most honorable person she had ever met."

Violet watched him for a moment before continuing.

"Besides trusting me to get Flamel's work, she said that she trusts you."

This meant sneaking out of the castle, off the castle grounds. It meant big trouble and the two knew it.

Finally he nodded. "We need to plan this through."

"I did."


	27. Chapter 27 Out of Hogwarts

**Chapter 27: Out of Hogwarts**

They waited until dinner that evening before making their way to Ravenclaw tower. Violet was lugging her broomstick close to her side as they raced up the spiral staircase. Teddy as usual, was navigating solely by the practical map in front of his face. His cousin hadn't seemed especially worried about getting caught on her way to meet up with him.

"What were you going to tell people if they saw you with that broom?

"That it's your's, and that I have been meaning to return it all year," she said with a shrug.

The map proved to be unneccesary though, as they made it to the entrance door without seeing a single person. Unlike Teddy's previous trip, the house guardian was unmoving; it seemed completely rigid.

"Excuse me," Teddy called to the lifeless bird. When it didn't respond, he tentatively lifted a fist, wondering if he should knock or not. Before he did though, the eagle swung his head to meet Teddy's gaze.

"I know that you consider me thick, but I didn't know you considered me a door," it said.

"Er..." said Teddy, not sure how to respond.

The eagle's wings were now flapping slowly back and forth as it took it's time staring at the two of them. "Is there something you two want?" it finally asked.

Violet squeezed Teddy's arm and shot him a worried look.

"Right, we need to get into your room. It's very important."

"Obviously," the eagle said, "You wouldn't try to break into the Ravenclaw room unless it was for an important reason."

"We're not trying to break in," Teddy said indignantly. "We just need access to-"

Before he could finish that statement though, Violet lifted the broom so that the bristles nearly went into Teddy's mouth. He sputtered and took a step back.

"I was under the impression that you would admit people into your room if they can prove they have a logical mind?" she asked.

"There are pleny of people with logical minds that would pose a threat to my house," the eagle responded.

"That's true. So I suppose we would have to convince you that we mean no harm to your house."

The eagle studied her for a moment before answering. "How would you suggest to do that?"

Violet looked at Teddy blankly, reminding him very much of Dewey the last time they were here.

"You could ask a riddle that would test our morality?" Teddy guessed.

The eagle chuckled a bit at this. "That seems reasonable. Alright, two men are in a room. One is a good man, who is heartsick and wishes to die. The other is a thief and a murderer, who shows no hint of changing his ways, but has no wish to die himself. You are charged with putting one of them to death."

"Excuse me?" Teddy asked.

"What would be the moral decision?" the eagle asked.

"Probably better I answer this," Teddy whispered to the Slytherin. She frowned, then crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall to watch him deliberate.

"Definitely tougher than the moon question," Teddy said. "Killing the good man is obeying his wishes, which sounds good, although you are still killing. On the other hand, killing the bad man, sounds good because as you said, he deserves it—although it's still killing."

He glanced over at Violet, who whispered, "Probably a good call that you are doing this."

"Do I have to kill either?" he asked the eagle.

"This is not a trick question," it replied. "I don't permit the members of my house to sneak through here on equivocations and evasions."

"Alright, alright," Teddy replied. "I would end the good man's life. If I only am allowed to do one thing, I would rather see to it that a good person's wishes are followed, than to punish a bad person. I don't think one can ever call killing a person moral anyway."

The eagle did not respond, rather, the door opened for the two of them. As soon as they entered the room, it closed without comment.

"Only you could have difficult relationship with another house's door-knock," Violet muttered.

The two made their way over to the windowsill, it proved more difficult to open then the previous occasion. Both he and Violet had to simultaneously cast _alohomora_ on it before the lower window shot open.

A cool spring breeze seemed to have been waiting to blow into the common room. It lifted their hair back and chilled their faces.

"Why can't we leave a note again?" Teddy asked as he climbed out of the window. He looked just once down the seven stories before looking back into the common room. He kept a firm grip on his side of the windowsill as his feet rested maddeningly on the invisible ledge below.

"I did leave a note," she said. "They will find it if we are gone more than a day."

She handed him the broom which he grudgingly removed one of his hands from the sill to grab.

Her hands shook ever so slighty when she propped herself onto the ledge, but quickly she lowered her own feet next to his.

"I didn't want you to leave a note because I couldn't guarentee that no one will find it before we get back. That is something I would like to avoid at all cost."

"Fine," Teddy replied. "Now that we are outside the school and I haven't left a note, can you finally tell me where we are going?"

She smiled and grabbed the broom from his free hand. Turning away from the wall, she leapt from the invisible ledge to her hovering broom.

"Someplace that should be very familiar to your godfather."

She put her hand out, which he looked at for a moment before taking. With a surprisingly strong grip she pulled him along behind her and soon they were flying high in the sky, away from the castle.

Teddy wasn't sure if it was because they had been locked inside for so long, or if it was simply being over the magnificent castle during such a windy spring day, but he had the overwhelming sense of being exposed. The two were taking long, slow arcs around the school, and if they weren't visible to the top reaches of the school, they were surely visible to the villagers in Hogsmeade.

"Teddy," Violet yelled into the air in front of them. "Can you hear me?"

He leaned towards her ear and loudly replied, "Yes"

"Good. We're going to land on the Astronomy Tower for a moment."

Before he could respond, Violet put them in a corkscrew dive that sent them barrelling towards the tower. She pulled up and landed gracefully towards the edge of the platform.

"You ok?" she asked him upon seeing his face.

Teddy was fairly certain he needed to go lean over the edge of the tower so he could empty out his stomach onto the grounds below. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before looking back at her.

"So obviously there's the problem with the Orange Wards," she said.

"I was wondering how you planned to get around that," Teddy said.

Of the many worries and uncertainties that had cycled through his mind as Violet was taking her round about way to ask him to go find the Philosopher's Stone with her, getting past the Orange Wards was the most significant. Even if they could get past them (without the implied threat that "death zones" suggested) surely they would tip off Llewleyn as well as Harry and the auror's. How far could they even get once the wizarding world were on to them?

He had agreed, despite these concerns for two reasons. Mainly because he knew from watching Violet tell her strange, incomplete tale, that she was absolutely determined to find the stone. If he wouldn't go, it wouldn't matter what he told her, and, besides telling Llewleyn or Neville or someone, he wouldn't be able to stop her (from her whispered, scared, confidential tone he was certain that even if he did tell on her, she would go anway).

The other reason, although he didn't like to admit it, was that he was very curious about the stone himself. His cousin had obviously put some thought into a plan. She was more sneaky and clever than anyone he knew, surely if he was to go and seek out that particular stone, she would be the one to go with.

He had reasoned these things in his mind as she told the story and so when she finally got around to asking him to help her find the stone, she was surprised by how quickly he answered yes.

Now the two of them were standing on the edge of the tower, staring out at the vast forbidden forest sprawled beneath them, the tree's swaying back and forth in a strangely inviting manner.

"There are two things that I have learned about those wards; they might stun a human, but they only kill goblins."

"That's not very comforting," Teddy replied.

"And that they are meant to keep outsiders out, not to keep insiders in."

As she said this, she had her wand out, and was watching the air above her head with great interest. Glancing down to make sure she wouldn't walk off the tower, she raised her wand above her head, and slowly followed after something.

"How do you know this?" Teddy asked.

She didn't seem to hear this, rather she continued following whatever it was she was looking at in the sky above her before she said, "Stupify."

Teddy expected the spell to shoot high into the sky above but it only traveled a foot or so. She bent down to pick something up and then walked over to Teddy.

"I have a theory," she said, opening her hand to reveal a small, light grey moth. "Here's how we are going to test it. The wards cover all of the school grounds right? So they must encircle the air above the castle in a sort of dome."

Teddy nodded. Bill Weasley had spent a dinner a few years ago explaining about the dome that constantly surrounds Hogwarts. It reminded him of the bubbles that he could cast from his toy wands as a child.

"At this height, we must be near the top of the dome. If we shoot straight upwards and get stunned, we should only fall back ten feet or so onto the castle."

"Thats your plan..." Teddy struggled to say.

"It's going to work," Violet said. "We're not going to get stunned. But if we do, then we get stunned in the best possible place."

"How can you possible know that?" Teddy asked. He was extremely annoyed with himself for being so easily convinced that his hero-worshiping, desperate cousin could come up with a lucid plan. Without waiting for an answer, he made his way to the Astromony doorway.

"Please," Violet said, suddenly above his head. She was holding the front of the broom with one hand, her free hand was cupped around the small moth.

"I know this seem crazy, but I am certain it will work."

He turned back from the doorway to stare up at her. She looked back at him sadly.

"I need your help with this," she said.

"What is the moth for?" he finally asked.

She floated down until she was next to him. "It's my test to make sure we will be ok."

Months earlier, when Teddy had just started the school year, he had been reminded, over and over, to think before doing anything stupid. His gran, Harry, Chloe, even the girl now suggesting flying through the dead zone over the castle, had all expected him to get pulled into a reckless situation and each was determined to try and stop him from doing anything dumb.

Why did they bother telling him though?

He got onto Violet's broom, wrapping both of his arms around her tiny frame.

"Watch the moth," she yelled.

They flew almost directly up, Violet holding tightly onto the broom and Teddy holding onto her. They flew slowly, going slower every foot higher above the Astronomy deck. When they were twenty feet or so above the topmost point of the castle, Violet carefully rested the moth on her knee and then, being careful not to shake the moth onto the deck below, extracted her wand from her pocket. She lifted the moth and set it on the handle of the broom, and then quickly cast the enervate spell on it.

"Watch the moth!" she said again. "Watch it!"

The moth, as if realizing it's chance for freedom, flew straight above.

"Keep going," Violet yelled at it.

It did, flying higher and higher until it was out of sight.

Violet glanced backwards at Teddy and said, "just like the owls."

The owls, the owls. He nodded and the two of them shot up into the sky, not leveling out until they had passed through the wet, white-blank of the cloud layer.

"Wicked," Teddy yelled, pumping one hand in the air while the other rested on her shoulder.

"Wicked," She repeated. "Now hold on."

Teddy barely had a chance to reestablish his hold on her before they were diving back through the clouds, angling sharply away from the castle, over the vast forest, over the town of Hogsmeade, over the fields surrounding the town. Here she started lowering herself down, so that they could make out farms scattered around the fields, and fences surrounding the farms. They saw a road and followed it, getting lower and lower untill they were just a few feet above the ground.

"So where again are we going?" Teddy asked.

The road led to another woods, but from this angle, he had no idea how deep it ran. Violet continued to follow it, until they were through the woods, emerging once again into a large open field. The difference between this field and the previous one though, was that their were seagulls flying ahead. There was the distant sounds of waves crashing below. There was the smell of salt. They were at the ocean.

"You hungry?" Violet asked as she reached into her small purse and extracted a rather large, old fashioned picnic basket. "We have about a half an hour before the Carousel appears."

Teddy felt his jaw drop. "The what?"

Violet took a seat on the grass. "It's the only way that we can get to Northern England tonight."

* * *

When he was growing up, Teddy had heard accounts of the Carousel. Ron and Hermoine had taken it on their honeymoon trip to South America. His Gran had ridden it once as well, when she and Grandpa Ted had visited his family in Holland. When any of them spoke of it, they generally all recounted a sense of luxury and refinement that they had never experienced elsewhere.

Teddy had expected something like a giant traveling dinner party. An enclosed ball room that somehow zoomed across the sky. He was surprised, therefore, to see the massive Arvakr horses (their sleek and muscular legs each longer than Teddy himself) lugging what best could be described as a small village behind them. Eight horses in all, each golden colored, landed in tandem on the ground. Despite their size, their arrival didn't blast Teddy and Violet with any wind; the Arvakr moved swiftly and absolutely silently.

Behind them were a procession of buildings, each connected by accordion-like passages. There was a tall windmill with the words, _l'erreur belle_ in quaint red letters on its front face. There was a narrow building, it's walls of crumbling stone. Large windows exposed witches and wizards in their finest clothes, talking and laughing around a candlelit bar. Another building, oddly enough, resembled a massive Spanish Galleon. Planks of beautifully treated wood lined the curved side, various flags extended out from the top of the wall, and on top there was a tall tower complete with a billowing mast. Lastly, there was a plain brick flat. The only thing distinguishing it was the purple, blue, and green embers that hung over it, like fireworks stuck in space. They read, _'The Carousel'_.

Teddy followed Violet's lead, as she made her way over to this building. When the two got near the door, two wizards apparated in front of it to block passage. They each wore bright orange overcoats with various medals pinned on their chests, and flaming appelets on their shoulders.

Violet calmly reached into her purse and extracted two tickets. She held them out while the guards carefully scanned their wands back and forth over them.

"Welcome Ms. Parkinson," one of the guards said. "Welcome Ms. Parkinson's guest," the other guard commented.

As they took the tickets from Violet, Teddy felt a small metalic object encircle his wrist. He pulled up his robe and found a shiny golden bracelet with his name, the date, and the destination engraved.

"Violet?" he said.

She was ahead of him making her way through the lobby.

"Were going to Blackstone Gorge, Violet?" Teddy called out.

She stopped and turned to face him. "That's right."

He frowned. "The same Blackstone Gorge where the Aurors and goblins fought earlier this year?"

His cousin glanced towards the back wall of the lobby where a number of couches and armchairs were perched near a fireplace. "Let's take a seat," she said. "It's not as bad as you think."

_It's not as bad as you think_ was a generous statement. His cousin (demonstrating that she clearly had put more time and effort into researching this trip than she initially let on) explained that she had spoken to her prefect, Ursula, about the auror/goblin battle that took place at the Black Stone Gorge.

Of all the students at Hogwarts, Ursula was undoubtedly the most well-versed on all the goblin battles. She read the auror reports (once they were available), she subscried to the public affairs journal _Wizarding United Kingdom_, and she read every recent book published on the attacks. Her big source; however, was an auror-in-training, the recently graduated Slytherin, Ophilia. Ursula had been one of Ophilia's biggest fan's when she was at Hogwarts, and had kept corresponding with her after she graduated.

According to Ursula, the Auror's had handily won the Black Stone Gorge battle. The _prophet's_ reporting had been way off. Buzz Hobfly had erroneously suggested to the wizarding world that the Goblins had made a hasty retreat, sealing themselves into a stone fortress. Why he had reported that, she didn't know. Ophilia claimed that this suited the Auror's just fine though- the Black Stone Gorge didn't need any more media attention anyway.

Teddy and Violet had gone back and forth discussing this during their extremely short flight (they were in the air for all of an hour and ten minutes). There was no indication from the room itself that they had landed; their bracelets started vibrating, which Violet explained was their signal that it was time to go.

The guards nodded politely as they made their way off the Carousel. They emerged on a small stone beach that surrounded the mountain range in front of them. Each had to crank their neck back to view the tops of the various peaks. The Carousel flew away without them noticing. When they turned back around it was as if they had apparated there.

"So why do the Auror's not want this place to get media attention?" Teddy asked.

A boom like a cannon bellowed in the distance, it's echo slowly moving it's way across the waterfront.

"Let's go," Violet shouted. She started to run up the beach.

Teddy followed, almost slipping a few times on the loose stones underneath. They raced past a small wooden sign that read, _Historical Marker 2722: Black Stone Gorge_, raced up a small grassy hill until they were at the massive rock face in front of them. A small entrance to the cave, not much wider than Teddy and even shorter than Violet was the only break in the wall.

"Is this it?" Teddy asked.

Violet looked nervously over his shoulder at the mountains on the other side of the lake. When she met his eyes her expression for the first time that day seemed uncertain.

There was another explosion somewhere in the mountain range behind them. This one seemed even closer than the last one. Little pebbles fell down the face above them, bouncing back and forth against the wall and raining onto their head.

His started to re-ask his cousin if this was the entrance they needed to use but noticed that she had begun to shake. Taking out his wand he cast the lumos charm.

"You need to do the same," he said sharply to her.

She blinked, and then quickly shook her head a bit as if to wake herself up. Pulling out her own wand, she also cast the charm.

"Alright," Teddy said taking one last look at the mountain ranges around them, the peaks casting long shadows over the lake as the sun began to set overhead. "Let's get going."

* * *

Although the two of them had to crouch and move akwardly to get through the inital entrance of the cave, the passage quickly opened into a large cavern. It was completely dark, save for their two beams of light, which they continuously moved around the walls of the room. From what Teddy could tell, the cavern was about the width of the Great Hall. There were at least five different passages along the walls (he wasn't sure as it was too hard to remember exactly where one had been when running a beam of light back and forth).

"Do you know where these lead?" he whispered, his voice nevertheless boosted to normal speaking level by the room's acoustics.

"We need to head down," she said. "Do you know the_ Flagrate _spell?"

He shook his head, then remembering that she couldn't see his face, whispered "no."

"I should have taught it to you before."

For a moment her light went out. Teddy heard the rustle of her robes as she performed the motion.

"Flagrate," she whispered, causing the tip of her wand to burst into flames. She slashed a crossing pattern at her feet, leaving a fiery X on the ground.

"We'll keep track of where we went," she explained. "The less back-tracking the better."

"I can't believe they didn't cover that spell in Charms Club," Teddy muttered.

She put her lumos back up and began walking towards the nearest passageway.

"Just remember that it's incredibly easy to get lost here and next to impossible to signal for help. No matter what, you and I don't get separated."

"Of course," Teddy said.

"No matter what," She repeated.

Teddy grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "No matter what."

The passage they had chosen turned out to be a tunnel about as wide as the Hogwart's Express. It sloped gently downward, the path mostly flat. If the cooridor was lit, they would undoubtedly had no problem moving down it. Unfortunately, with the limited lighting that they had, every step was precarious. They had no idea when an exposed rock might trip them up, or if they were about to step into a gap in the floor. They had to walk as if on ice, each eventually grabbing the other's hand for balance.

"What part of the gorge are we looking for," Teddy whispered.

"We need to find a stone entrance."

"A stone entrance? Where might one of those be."

Violet's lumos beam quickly jumped from up ahead, directly into Teddy's eyes. He cursed under his breath, having to take even shorter steps while he was temporarily blind.

"An entrance _made _of stone. Like the one in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Next time say that," Teddy snapped back.

She chuckled, as they finally were through the passageway and into another large cavern.

"Ok, next time this happens, I will tell you."

She stopped for a moment and cast the Flagrate on the edge of the passageway. While she was doing this, Teddy once again searched the perimeters of the room with his beam of light.

"So, where is this stone entrance?" he whispered.

There was only one hole in the wall this time. If one could even call it a passageway. It was near the bottom of the wall, just big enough for the two of them to crawl into it.

"That's the thing," she said. "The only person that can find it are heirs to the Potter's claim."

The two were perched at either end of the crack in the wall. Their beams of light revealing another tunnl, perhaps shorter than the last one.

"Am I an heir?" he asked her.

"Are you?" came a dangerous sounding voice behind them.

A goblin, with an axe slung against his chest, had snuck up right behind them.


	28. Chapter 28 The Real Plan

**Chapter 28: The Real Plan**

The first thought that occurred to Teddy, as he and Violet turned and found themselves face to face with an ax wielding goblin, was that, unlike the previous year, this Goblin was not carrying a wand. For a wild moment, he considered levitating the ax out of his hands with the hope that it would land on his head.

Whether or not this plan would have worked was a moot point though as several more goblins emerged from the darkness. They were talking excitedly amongst themselves in rapid gobbledegook, the words bringing a shiver to Teddy's spine.

"Are you an heir?" the original Goblin repeated.

In the darkness, Teddy couldn't tell if this was one of the Goblins that he had encountered during the previous spring or not. He supposed that even if he could see, that it would be difficult to remember any one of them specifically. He moved in front of Violet, pointing his wand at the ax carrying Goblin.

"Do not do anything rash," the goblin said, moving a step closer to them. "If we wanted to harm you, we would have done so when you first entered our mountain."

With his free hand, Teddy tapped Violet's knee three times. He desperately hoped that she would understand to flee through the hole behind them.

"You will lower your wand and come with us," the Goblin said. He followed this up with something in Gobbledegook which caused the other Goblins to create a semi-circle around them, a few in the group raising their own weapons as if waiting for Teddy to attack them.

He had no intention to attack them though. Instead, he lowered his wand to the ground, his mind as focused as it could be on visualizing the stone floor dissolving into a lake of water.

"Aguamenti," he bellowed.

Several things happened at once. The Goblin's who were clearly waiting for some sort of hostile act immediately closed in. They had a difficult time of doing this though as the floor fell out from under their feet. Everyone, besides Teddy, fell onto either their faces or their backs, as a rush of water flooded in from either side.

Teddy picked Violet up from under both of her arms and as soon as she was on her feet, thrust her towards the hole in the wall. She dove into the tunnel, and disappeared from view. The other Goblins had all gotten to their feet and were shouting angrily in their language. Their leader had turned his back to Teddy to argue with them. This was all the distraction that he could have hoped for; he crouched down into the tunnel and pushed forward.

It was like the wettest, roughest, most terrifying slide that he could think of. The rush of water behind him propelled him forward making him feel like he was flying on his broomstick. He had nothing to protect him from the stone floor or the rocks that stuck out of the sides. Things smacked his elbows, the top of his head, his nose, his knees, and all he could do was wait for the tunnel to bottom out.

The passage emptied out into another massive room. He opened his eyes and was shocked not only to find it well lit, but to see a series of elevators lined up in the center of the room. Violet was already examining the crank controls on one of them.

"We need to move," Teddy called out.

She shook her head. "Just one second." She pulled the crank all the wall down and the wrought iron elevator came to life. She quickly jumped off the shaking and clanking elevator before it descended into the earth.

"Help me get the others," she said, "We'll take the last one."

He glanced behind him at the black passageway. Water continued to flow out but the stream was diminishing rapidly. The Goblins should have fallen right after him, perhaps they were taking a different way. He ran to the next elevator in line, pulled the lever down about halfway and then jumped off. Soon he and Violet had sent all of the elevators down except the second last one (Violet had shouted for him not to touch that one as she went and sent the final elevator down).

"From now on we go by your best guess," she said.

He had absolutely no clue as to what floor they should go to, but, not having a better guess, and needing to leave immediately, he put his hand on the crank and pushed it forward.

* * *

The elevator shook violently on their trip down. A few of the rusty iron bars jangled so much that they popped in and out of the brackets. Violet had grabbed Teddy's hand once more and had closed her eyes. Teddy kept his eyes open, but it was impossible to tell how far down they were going in the darkened elevator shaft. A few times there would be a sudden increase in light and suddenly they would be plunging down into a large cavern (looking up in the first of these caverns, Teddy had realized that their elevator was not bound to any beams or track). In the few seconds that they were in these caverns, Teddy would swing his head back and forth trying to make out any evidence of Goblins. Only once did his think he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, but before he could look over they were plunging still further down into the darkness.

Finally the elevator slowed to a stop. They were perched a foot off the ground in another massive cavern. Unlike the other rooms they had visited though, this room actually appeared to be part of a working mine. Signs labeled simple as "1A" or "Lower Concourse" were posted above the various doors scattered throughout the room. Violet and Teddy glanced at one another, before taking a step off.

"You think we should send it even further down?" she whispered.

Teddy shook his head.

"Alright. So what direction should we move?"

How many times had Teddy watched Harry or Ron or Ginny or countless other adults cast their patronus? He could visualize the exact wand movement, knew that it depended on putting all of one's concentration into a happy memory. He wouldn't even care about having Violet witness him failing at a spell so above his level. The problem was that he didn't think he would be able to cast it right away, and right now their biggest concern was time. Professor Curr had described the goblin's magic as having a special connection to the earth; with them knowing exactly where they were in it. Surely they would be able to find them in no time.

"What direction do you think the vault is in?" she repeated.

"What?" he asked. He couldn't believe that she was still thinking about Flamel's stone now that they had a gang of goblin's on their tail.

"You sent us down here," Violet said rapidly, clearly ready to get moving once again. "Where do you think we should go next?"

"Go next?" Teddy said, "I don't have a clue where we should go next but it sure as hell won't be in the direction of the vault."

Violet's mouth fell open at this. "What are you talking about? We're already hundreds of feet into the gorge. We can't go back now, don't be stupid."

For once, Violet seemed to have spoken without thinking. She closed her eyes and cringed at the words. Teddy understood that she wasn't embarrassed or ashamed for insulting him. She was cringing because she had tipped her hand.

"When you asked me to go with you on this trip. You knew that there would be goblin's didn't you?"

She glanced back at him, her face once again the composed mask that he was so used to.

"You knew that there were goblins here and you wouldn't let me tell Harry?" Teddy continued. "How stupid could you be?"

"We don't have time for this," she said.

"No," Teddy replied, "We're not going anywhere till you tell me your actual plan."

She sighed. "Teddy, this isn't the time."

"You made me promise," he said. "I promised that I would keep your secret. I promised that I would not lose you. No matter what."

"I know that- I told you that I needed you-"

"For Merlin's sake Violet. Just tell me the truth."

"Fine," she snapped. "I guessed the goblins might be here. It was a risk we could afford to take."

Teddy gave a bitter laugh to this. "Really? You thought the odds were pretty good against a band of goblins—in the depths of _a mountain?_"

Violet was glaring at him now. "This isn't the time for this, we would be far safer in the vault."

"Would you shut up about the stupid vault? How do you expect us to get to it alive?"

"We will be fine, Harry Potter is probably already here."

This statement felt like a blow to his stomach.

"He what?" Teddy demanded.

"I sent him a note," she said, staring fiercely back at him. "I expect we will see him shortly."

The two stared at each other for a moment in silence. Teddy had no idea how his cousin viewed him at the moment and really couldn't care less. If he wasn't so scared of a goblin sneaking up on the two of them, he would take his wand out and curse her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her.

"I couldn't," she said, suddenly weary. "If you would have contacted him, he would have stopped us. We need him to help us get back, but we needed to get here more."

As mad as he was at his cousin for tricking him, for taking advantage of his relationship with Harry Potter, for putting all of them in jeopardy, there was a part of him that also felt sorry for her. Her reckless dedication to Madame Seavelle. What was she expecting to happen if they were to return Flamel's work to Seavelle? That she would be her favorite at school? That Seavelle would include her in her social circles? Suddenly, his tiny cousin, seemed less like the person he had always viewed her as. He felt like he was looking at one of Seavelle's house elves.

"I know you're mad at me," she said, gently placing her hand on his arm. He shook it off but she continued speaking anyway. "We can talk about all of this later, but-"

She didn't finish this statement though as the elevator behind them suddenly was creaking to life once again. The two turned to watch as it slowly lifted up into the ceiling.

"There goes our escape," Teddy whispered.

Violet surprised him then, wrapping both of her hands around one of his arms and squeezing tightly. He wasn't sure why she was so scared of the elevator, and was about to say so when he noticed what she was looking at. Across the cavern, through one of the entrance-ways they could make out a single file line of Gobins marching in and out of view. He couldn't see from here whether it was the same Goblins as before (this time working extra hard to focus on a unique identifier like a feather in one of their hats or the type of weapons they carried) but that hardly mattered. They were moving quite purposefully, and he would bet anything that they were looking for the two of them.

Violet leaned in so that she was inches away from his ear.

"What's the plan?" she whispered.

No elevator, no way to signal Harry, no idea where to hide, he had to admit that the only sensible idea at this point was to lock themselves away in the family vault.

"Alright, let's go," he muttered.

She smiled but did not say anything more, which was smart because hearing her voice right now made Teddy very much want to punch something. He set off across the cavern, towards the same entrance-way that the Goblin's had marched past. Violet did not comment on the direction they were taking, she had taken her wand out though and was holding it forward as if ready for an attack.

Not having any idea where they were in the mountain, Teddy nevertheless felt like he had some idea where they should be going. Of course there was no way for him to tell if he was having a genuine inclination or if he was just putting blind trust into the first guess that came his way. What choice did they have?

The two followed along the Goblin's path as quietly as possible. There were occasional torches along the walls now, but the scant light they offered was nothing like the main caverns. The corridors were just wide enough for Teddy and Violet, walking tightly side-by-side, to maneuver through. They traveled downwards, the path now leading into actual mines. Rooms were lit by a single torch which revealed deep gashes cut into the various walls. Inevitably these rooms had multiple exits, each leading to more corridors that either rose or fell to other mines.

At first, Teddy took a moment in these rooms, closing his eyes and trying to feel the slight push or pull within his very blood that would urge him in the right direction. After a half dozen of these rooms though, he simply pushed on to the first door that seemed right. They were moving fast now, deeper into the mountain, the two in a slight jog. Twice they heard something in the distance but it was impossible to tell if it was up ahead or behind (or down another path) and the noise just encouraged the two of them to get to their path quicker.

"You're putting an awfully high amount of trust in that both Harry and I will be able to find this vault," Teddy said, panting slightly.

"Do you know if we are close?" she asked.

Teddy shrugged. "I'm not even sure we are going in the right direction."

Violet didn't respond to this and the two plunged onward.

One thing was certain. The two of them were definitely heading downward. The weather had gotten noticeably chillier as they made their way farther and farther into the mine. At some point in the past half hour, Teddy's ears had popped. He wasn't sure if it was because of this or because of some strange geographic formations nearby, but Teddy detected the slightest hum emanating from the walls around them.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered to Violet.

"Hear what?"

"That buzz."

It took him a moment to realize that Violet had stopped several feet behind him. Her eyes were closed and she was gently leaning against the wall so that her ear was pushed against the surface.

"What am I listening for?" she asked.

Teddy put his own ear against the wall but the humming didn't seem any different than it had where he was standing previously.

"Did your ears pop?" he asked her.

She nodded. "Awhile ago."

For the first time since they encountered the goblins, hope filled Teddy's heart. It seemed that he did have a special connection to the Black Stone Gorge after all. Could it really be as simple as following a buzz?

He began to walk forward again, Violet in tow. She must have realized that he was guiding them by the hum as she moved nearly silently along beside him. It seemed to be working too. The noise was getting louder; although, as it got louder, he realized it wasn't a hum after all. It was a series of notes, a harmony, that became clearer and clearer as the two pushed forward.

"Any idea yet?" Violet finally asked.

"I think so," said Teddy. "I think it's just beneath us."

The two stopped and stared at the rock floor underneath them. They were standing in the middle of another mine, this one appeared not totally harvested as a few veins of shiny electric blue minerals could be seen amongst the rock face. There was just one passageway in front of them, a torch in the distance indicating that this tunnel led sharply downwards.

"There's one thing," Teddy whispered.

Violet who had already started ahead for the passage, turned. "What?"

"You need to mark the wall outside the vault with flagrate, so Harry knows we are here."

Violet nodded and then started forward once again. Teddy followed after her, the harmonious note now singing so clearly, he almost couldn't believe that Violet couldn't also hear it. It was like there was a choir underneath them. Without really thinking about it, he joined in on the note, his voice easily falling into the larger sound.

He felt a hand covering his lips, and saw that his cousin was looking fearfully at him. She nodded her head over his shoulder, and when he turned he too saw the band of goblins. They were still marching in single file line (the lead goblin carrying an ax that appeared to be the same one that they encountered earlier that night). They were walking slowly through the previous mine, a few goblins stopping and chipping at the precious minerals with their pick-axes.

Violet didn't intend on sticking around to watch this however. She grabbed his hand and rushed down the stairs. The path they were on was steeper than the other passageways. It twisted in a long corkscrew, so that just when they thought they were at the end, they discovered they had a great deal farther to traverse.

The choir that Teddy could hear now sounded as if they were singing specifically to him. Like they were urging him to move faster. He listened to it, hurrying ahead, and not missing a beat, Violet joined him. The two began to run, a risky idea anywhere in the semi-dark mountain, but downright calamitous on this steep alcove. Down and down they went, faster and faster, until Teddy and Violet were both bracing themselves on either side of the tunnel with their hands, trying to catch back some of the momentum. One of them tumbled, Teddy couldn't tell if it had been him or her first, but instantly their legs were tangled, and they were grabbing each other in a tight hug, heads tucked into each other's shoulders, before their bodies crashed into the floor.

Teddy felt a terrible pain in his right leg, and knew it was broken even before the two got up and he tried to put weight on it. Violet was clutching her right arm against her chest, and was clearly wincing. More worrisome though, was when she turned to look him over and he saw the right side of her face covered in blood.

They didn't get a long chance to evaluate each other's injuries though, as the goblin's gobbledegook cries echoed all the way down the tunnel to their ears. From the sounds of their stomping feet, they whole gang was rushing headlong towards them.

"Where is it?" Violet cried.

"Just up ahead I think," Teddy said.

His little cousin, noticing his injured leg, grabbed Teddy's right arm and put it around her shoulder. Suddenly she was limping forward, and Teddy couldn't help but hobble right along with her. The two hopped down, like in a three legged race, the last ten feet or so of the corkscrew path.

Finally at the bottom, they found themselves on a small level platform. Two torches bracketed a flat stone wall in front of them. Upon seeing the wall, the two did a double take and then, despite the goblins making their way towards them, began to laugh. They were staring at a massive, relief cut of the Potter family seal.

Teddy could almost hear the individual voices from the other end of the wall. He put his hand out to touch the center of the circle, but before he could Violet had once again grabbed hold of his arm.

"I think its Harry," she said.

The noise of the choir was too loud for Teddy to hear the commotion above them, but he felt the release of a spell. Someone was firing curses at the goblins.

"Should we help?" he asked.

Violet had temporarily let him go so she could get her own wand out. She turned her back to him and cast the Flagrate Charm at her feet.

"Just open the door," she called over her shoulder, as she aimed her wand up the passageway.

Teddy hopped forward, until he was level with the wall and then gently touched the center of the seal. It vanished, and instantly the singing stopped. The Potter vault gleamed ahead of him.

"Come on Violet!" he called out. He strongly suspected that as soon as he entered the room, the door would seal everyone else out.

With the loss of the singing, he could hear the commotion overhead. He couldn't make out the voice but someone was clearly cursing the goblins. Clanks of metal sounded against rocks. It sounded like a whole squad of Aurors was fighting their way down. Violet, finally ready to get into the vault, put her wand down and raced through the doorway.

"You too," Violet called to Teddy.

He turned to but before he crossed the threshold he heard a voice yell, "Teddy, stop!"

Madame Seavelle emerged from the last twist of the corkscrew, Her wand was aimed over her shoulder and red blasts of light crashed recklessly in all directions behind them.

Teddy glanced at Violet, whose mouth was open almost as far as her eyes. He didn't know what to think, so he did the most reasonable thing that he could do. He stepped aside so that Seavelle could rush past him into the vault. Then he hopped on his one good leg, over the threshold just as the Goblin's were emerging around the bend.

He, Violet, and Seavelle watched as the stone wall reappeared. From behind the wall, they could no longer hear the Goblin's outraged cries, or the pointless hacking of their weapons against the stone. They had made it into the Potter vault.


	29. Chapter 29 Slytherin Ways

**Chapter 29: Slytherin Ways**

Teddy, Violet, and Seavelle all glanced at one another in amazement. With the complete silence of the massive room and the near daylight effect of the thousands of torches lining the walls, it felt hard to believe that they had all been running for their lives moments ago.

He hadn't known exactly what to expect the Potter Vault to look like, but this space would surely have dwarfed even his grandest expectations. The walls were so far apart that Teddy needed to turn his head all the way to the left and right to get the sense of the room. Amazingly, the room, which must be hundreds of feet long, appeared to be a perfect square. The walls, which had torches that ran at equal distance up and side to side, seemed far larger than the Great Hall's. He wouldn't be surprised if the walls were taller than Hogwarts itself. But more interestingly, were the square platforms, no bigger than the average door, that casually floated up and down the walls. They looked very much like shelves that couldn't decide where they wanted to rest. Far overhead, the platforms traveled endlessly back and forth between the four walls.

"This place must have been a sight to behold when it was at capacity," Seavelle said.

Before Teddy or Violet could respond to this, their Potions professor had begun walking away from the two of them. She sheathed her wand back into her robes and was moving quite quickly across the massive floor.

Shrugging, Violet leaned under Teddy's arm and gently propped him up. Once again the two of them hopped forward, although this time their progress seemed ludicrously slow compared to Seavelle's swift gait.

"You didn't know she was coming?" he asked her.

Violet shook her head quickly. "No idea."

Suddenly Teddy remembered that Harry Potter was on the way to save the two of them. Had he entered the mountain yet? Was he battling the same goblins that the three of them had tangled with?

"Madame," he called out. When she didn't turn back he yelled it again.

Seavelle did turn around. From the expression on her face, she appeared to have forgotten that the two students were there with her. The smile quickly came back to her face though and she hurried back over to them.

"Forgive me," she said. "Being in this majestic place, I've seemed to have lost my head."

For the first time since seeing them, the professor seemed to notice the various injuries that the two had gained that day. A few quick healing charms stopped the flow of blood from Violet's head, and fixed a few sustained cuts on the two of them.

"I can't fully heal broken bones, but I can numb the area and protect it with a splint if you wish."

Teddy and Violet both agreed to this and soon their respective leg and arm were in far more protected states.

"That's that," Seavelle said, glancing once in the direction over her shoulder. "Now, you two can either wait here, where I will collect you shortly, or you can accompany me."

Before Teddy could respond to this, Violet was nodding. "We made it this far already. Both of us want to see the stone or stones or whatever he left."

"Let's not be too hasty," Seavelle admonished. But the wide smile that had broken across her face clearly suggested that she thought finding some of Flamel's work was a distinct possibility.

The two witches set off across the room and once again Teddy found himself hurrying after them. Although there was no discernible pain in his leg anymore, he nevertheless put as little weight on it as possible. He wondered if following the two of them was a sort of betrayal to Harry. Should he wait at the door for him? Opening it and trying to signal their location was out of the question with the possibility that the goblins were still waiting around.

He had not overlooked the fact that Seavelle had somehow followed the two of them to the mountain. Not only was this at odds with Violet's account of her illness, but it had seemed beyond poor judgment to continue on as if the three of them being down here was normal or ok.

"What are you doing here?" is what he wanted to say to her previous question.

"Did you follow the two of us down here?" also came to mind.

"Does anyone else know you are here," also seemed important to ask.

He did not ask these questions though, as for the moment, the three of them were safely locked into this incredibly secure-feeling room. Also, each of these questions, like all of the ill-advised questions he had lobbed at Seavelle throughout the year, carried the heavy weight of an accusation.

The massive floor space was littered with wide, hardwood tables. Teddy decided that from above, the floor must resemble a giant chessboard. As they moved across the floorspace, occasionally stopping to see a leftover jewel or tool on one of the tables, they noticed stone huts (about the size of Hagrid's) perched every so often against the walls.

They hurried over to one of these huts, and found that it was a small tidy office. There was a desk, a chair, and a few file cabinets lining the walls. Seavelle tried pulling a few of the drawers open, but each was locked. This didn't seem to matter to her though as she quickly moved on to the next hut. The office was set up the same as the last. Seavelle only tried one drawer this time, but it too refused to open.

The three continued this way across the room, sidestepping tables, crisscrossing the hall to investigate each hut, slowly getting the measure of the entire vault. No one spoke as they made their journey. Still, even with their silence Teddy could sense the increasing desperation of both witches. They both seemed to be moving more quickly from hut to hut. Seavelle sighed at a few of them and at the latest one (they were about three quarters of the room now) both of the witches sighed upon opening the door and seeing more of the same.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Teddy finally asked.

Once again, Seavelle turned and seemed surprised to find him trailing along behind her.

"The offices lining the main cavern are called nodules. We are looking for the main nodule, which I believe they refer to as the Control Room."

Teddy glanced back and forth at the various huts that they still had to visit. They all appeared to be identical to one another.

"Wouldn't it be over there?" he said, pointing to the very center of the back wall. From this distance he couldn't make out the marking on the small door, but he strongly suspected that it was the same seal that they had encountered before.

Seavelle bit her lip for a moment before nodding. "Probably, but it would be foolish to ignore one of the nodules. How about the two of you check the other ones while I make my way over to that one?"

Before the two of them could answer, Seavelle had set off towards the back door. Violet, headed off towards the other wall, which was considerate of her since Teddy wouldn't have to walk as far to visit the remaining huts on his side.

He made his way into the handful of nodules on his side of the wall, but as he suspected each of them seemed exactly the same. It occurred to him that neither he nor Violet had asked what they should be looking for in each office. Surely Flamel (or whoever was keeping Flamel's works) wouldn't simply leave his paperwork and collections clearly labeled on one of the desks?

In one of the huts, he tried one of the file cabinets. Like Seavelle, he had simply grabbed the handle of the drawer and pulled, except in his case the drawer came open easily. Inside were hundreds of file folders tightly packed against one another. He lifted one at random, its label reading '_1889 Site 912- Gold'_. Inside were legal forms, charts, and daily logs. He tried another drawer and found that it was filled with similar records. Had Seavelle been unlucky and found two locked cabinets?

In the next hut, he found he was able to open up all of the drawers as well. He also tried the main desk drawer which came out with ease. There was nothing particularly exciting within it, just some quills, a container of ink, and a collection of the types of forms found within the file cabinet. He was struck by how tidy everything was though. The files within the cabinets appeared to be hundreds of years old, yet there was no dust, no molding, no signs of wear within the nodules.

After investigating the last nodule and finding more of the same, he headed over to the door on the back wall. He wasn't all that surprised to find Seavelle and Violet waiting for him. It stood to reason that if they couldn't open the other door, why should they be able to open this one? Seavelle, seeing him emerge from the Nodule, motioned with one of her hands for him to hurry over.

The door at the back wall seemed to be exactly the same size as the entrance to the vault. The Potter seal was more striking with the brightness of the countless torches around the room however. He put his hand to the center of the seal and once again the door vanished.

The control room didn't seem all that much different than any of the nodules. It was bigger certainly, about the size of one of the Hogwart's classrooms, and it contained more file cabinets, more desks, and a large table in the center of the room. But it wasn't any more complex or interesting than anything they had seen so far; there wasn't anything that drew his attention.

"It's magnificent," Seavelle breathed, catching both of them off guard.

She walked over to the long table and leaned so close to it that her nose touched the surface. Pulling up slightly, she ran her hands along the surface. "This must have been his work table."

Violet made her way to the back of the room where a few wooden boards on the wall still had notices pinned neatly to them.

"How can you be sure?" Teddy asked the Professor.

"It's in the photographs," she replied. The rapturous expression on her face, made her look more beautiful than he could ever remember. She dug into a small purse that he had not noticed until that moment and extracted a series of photographs.

She was right, they appeared to be in the same room that these photo's recounted. A bald, thin wizard wearing a white collared shirt under the sort of black formal vest that Madame's house elves wore, walked into and out of the frame. He would be holding a paper that he would be reading, or examining a rock with a magnifying glass, or would be scribbling something onto a scroll; the only thing he wasn't doing was paying any attention to the camera. When Flamel wasn't in frame, the table in the center of the photo became prominent. It didn't take a lot of glancing between the photo and the actual table to conclude that they were one in the same.

"If this is his work table," Seavelle said slowly. "Then one of these desks (she pointed to the few of them placed around the room) must be his as well."

She headed over to one desk and tried to pull open its compartments. When it didn't immediately open, she tried again, pulling harder. This time, the locked drawer did bother her. She removed her wand and tried _Alohomora_. There was no telltale click of the lock opening though and so she tried it again. She tried a few other spells, something that sounded like _ruhn-i-mora _and another that sounded like _ah-pear-ear. _Still the drawer wouldn't budge.

While watching her, Teddy had taken a seat at another one of the desks. He silently grabbed the brass handle on the main drawer and pulled just a bit. As he suspected it might, the drawer opened at his touch. It seems the cabinets and desks in the vault require being an heir to use.

He closed the drawer silently, and looked back at Seavelle. She was squatting near the desk, studying the lock up close. Teddy was certain that she has not seen him. But, when he glanced over at Violet, who had taken a spot at the other unoccupied desk, she was gaping at him in disbelief.

"Don't" he mouthed.

She frowned at him. "Why?" she mouthed back.

Teddy glanced back at Seavelle who was still not paying attention to either of them and then back at his cousin.

Violet shook her head. "Why?" she silently repeated.

Even if he could speak out loud, he would have a hard time explaining why he suddenly did not feel comfortable opening the desks. He couldn't help but feeling that there was something wrong with their current situation. Seavelle was doing nothing to mitigate that feeling. When her various spells did not work and her studying of the lock had proved fruitless, she grabbed the handle of the drawer and tried forcing it open.

"There...Is...No...Way…" each word punctuated by another forceful yank of the desk drawer "I've...come...this...far."

Finally losing it, Madame screamed in frustration. She aimed her wand at the lock, and blasted it with what Teddy suspected to be a bludgeoning curse.

The red light bounced right off the desk and Madame had to tuck her head quickly to the side to avoid receiving the ricochet to the face. Some of the curse must have hit her though, as the smell of singed hair was now present in the room. One of her hands went to the spot where the curse must have hit, while her wand was pointed angrily back at the lock.

"Madame!" Violet yelled.

Seavelle, turning, now had her wand aimed at Violet. For a moment Teddy though she might curse his cousin. Their professor lowered her wand though, her chest rising and falling in rapid breaths. She glanced back and forth at the two of them. "Any ideas?"

Teddy was glad that Violet did not answer this. He had no intention of answering their hysterical professor. But Seavelle, as usual, did not react in the way that he suspected she might. When the silence became uncomfortable, she took a seat on the desk that she had been working at. With her arms crossed, and her customary half-playful/half-challenging smile, she seemed to have steeled herself to wait for one of the two of them to respond.

Finally, Violet did just this. "I'm not sure what you want from us Madame."

Still Seavelle did not say anything though.

"If you can't open the drawers, what makes you think we can?" Violet continued, as she made her way over to the professor. Then, in what Teddy considered a fairly bold manner, she took a seat right next to Seavelle.

"Madame," she said quietly, "Have you been taking the same medicines as before?"

Seavelle turned to face her. Her eyes narrow slits and her smile was gone.

"You two manage to break out of school, find the Black Stone Gorge, and get into the Potter Vault, on your own. And yet, you're telling me that you can't open a drawer?"

The two Slytherins stared at one another for a long moment. And when Seavelle turned her attention to Teddy, he knew that Violet had somehow given it away. Perhaps the Potions professor was an accomplished legilimens, or more likely she was just an incredibly natural and deft Slytherin. Whatever the case, Seavelle got up from her desk and walked right over to him.

Slowly, she reached out and put her hand over his. Unlike before when she was savagely trying to force the desks open, she calmly guided their entwined hands over the brass knob of the desk drawer. He considered yanking his hand away, but knew that she would know either way then. He let her clasp their fingers around the metallic handle and then pull the drawer back with it.

"Excellent," she whispered. "But this isn't his desk."

She let go of his hand and made her way back to the desk that she had been working at before.

Teddy glanced over at Violet but his cousin was avoiding his eyes.

"Teddy," Seavelle said, his first name sounding so strange coming from her. "Could you please help me open this desk?"

Once again, he found himself thinking of Harry. Why wasn't he here yet? Had Violet somehow failed to get her note to him? Was he in trouble? Somehow Teddy suspected that he wouldn't be able to get back to the castle without him. Which he should have been thinking about of course when they initially set out on this wild plan.

Seavelle called his name again, her tone a bit more impatient than before.

Teddy got up from his seat and made his way over. He deliberately walked around her so that he was standing on the opposite side of Flamel's desk.

"Madame," Teddy said, ignoring the questioning look she was giving him. "Violet has explained to me the entire story of your illness."

Once again her eyes narrowed angrily, but she managed to close them. After a long breath or two she composed herself. "Thank goodness she did. Otherwise I would never have gotten here and all my research would have been for nothing."

Teddy nodded uncertainly to this. "Yes, her story convinced me to come along. But, I don't see how you were able to get out here in your condition."

Seavelle waved her hand dismissively at this. "As I told Violet, the terrible burden of this illness is that it comes and goes without warning. When I'm about to fall under its influence... Well I steady myself for that terrible ordeal. But when I'm fine, I'm as capable as anyone."

"But Madame," Violet said, once again moving to stand at her side. "What if you would have gotten ill on your way over? How could you have protected yourself?"

Seavelle closed her eyes once again and took another breath before the same placid smile appeared back on her face. "I appreciate your concern. Really I will surely owe both of you a life debt once we leave this cavern, but this was a journey that I could not afford to miss."

She reached back into her purse and extracted the same set of photographs as before. Paging through them, she selected one and put it on the desk in front of her. The picture was taken from where Teddy was standing. Seated behind this very desk, Nicholas Flamel was once again ignoring the camera. He pours over a piece of paper in front of him, sometimes scribbling a note here or there, but otherwise just simply reading it.

"This is the only picture anyone has ever seen of his working on the stone," she said. "This desk right here." She rapped her fingers against the desk. "I believe the document he was reading is in this drawer."

Teddy nodded to this.

"I'm not sure why you are so tentative Teddy," Seavelle continued. "But I assure you that as soon as you open this drawer, we can get the records and then head back to school."

She said this in the same calm voice but there was a definite edge to these words.

"Why don't we wait for my godfather to come here?" he asked her. "This is his mine after all."

Seavelle shook her head. "This is the Potter vault, but they were simply providing a secure location for Flamel to work. No one can claim ownership of his writings."

"Yes, but if he's on his way anyway, why don't we wait until he's here?"

"I don't see what difference it makes to you," she replied through gritted teeth. "We have no idea what time he will make it here, or if he will make it here, and we are wasting precious time that we could be spending viewing the files."

He wasn't sure if she realized her choice of words; her questioning if Harry would actually make it to the vault or not. But he did hear them and their effect was to make him take a large step back from the desk.

"Really now," Seavelle said, rising back to her own feet. "Enough is enough, we're here, we've found his drawer, please come over here and open it."

Teddy glanced back at Violet who seemed to be watching this entire conversation as if in a dream.

"I'm sorry, Madame," Teddy replied. "But I think we need to wait for Harry."

"Mr. Lupin, I'm tired of this conversation. Come over here and open up this drawer."

Teddy crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.

"You do realize that I can make you open this, right?" she said, her lips curving back into her usual smile. "I can make you come over, pull the drawer open, and then I can take away this entire memory so that no one would ever know what happened."

If he was squeamish at hearing Harry discuss memory charms with him before, Madame's naked threat raised goosebumps on his arms. He wondered if Chloe was told a similar thing before waking up in St. Mungo's.

"Really Teddy, I don't know what you take me for. One minute you're suspecting me of poisoning your cousin, another minute I'm subjecting the class to a specially designed Imperious Potion. All of those times you suspected me of motives that I didn't have. But I'm telling you this; I will get into that desk one way or another."

"Fine," he said. "But I'm not doing anything till Harry gets here."

The smile on Seavelle's face grew wider and she chuckled a bit at this. She glanced over at Violet who looked paler than he had ever seen. "Did you tell him that Harry Potter was on his way?"

Violet nodded. "I left him a note."

Seavelle laughed at this. "Yes, I know. I'm just surprised that you would have told him that. It doesn't seem very Slytherin to dangle the carrot so quickly."

Violet frowned at this. "How did you know I left him a note?"

Again Seavelle reached into her purse. She didn't need to open the folded parchment for Teddy to tell that it was the note, as Violet's surprised expression was a clear indication that it was.

"I commend you both for getting us to this point," Seavelle said, placing the note carefully back in her purse. "But it's the middle of the night, and right now, no one has any idea that you two are missing from the castle."

When she was putting the note away, Teddy had found his wand. He pulled it out, aiming it directly at Seavelle's smile.

She did not reach for her own wand, but contemplated his for a moment before meeting his eyes. "I can't say that I'm the most accomplished duelist Teddy, but you are making a serious mistake thinking you can challenge me."

Teddy still training his wand on her, took another step back. He knew that the door was a few feet behind him, but what would be the point in running? There was a massive room to get through and then what? Plus he couldn't leave Violet.

Seavelle, still not taking out her own wand, glanced over at his cousin.

"Violet, I don't know what has come over Mr. Lupin in the past half-hour but if anyone can talk him down from one of his fits it's you."

Violet looked, if anything, paler than before. Teddy had never seen his cousin bite her lips with worry, but she did so right now. She glanced back and forth at Teddy and Seavelle but did not say anything.

Quicker than he could imagine, Seavelle had her own wand out and aimed at Teddy.

"Imperio," she whispered.

He fllung himself to the floor, and scampered behind the other desk.

"I don't have any intention of harming you," he heard Seavelle call out to him. "You are being quite irrational though and this seems to be the only way for me to get the three of us out of here."

He could put his wand out and blindly fire at her, but what good would that do. Any moment now, she was going to get up and recast the curse; it was now or never. He steeled himself to dive out and get a clear shot when he heard Violet cry out, "Expelliarmus!"

There was a loud crash. When Teddy emerged from behind the desk, he found the chair next to Flamel's desk on the floor. Seavelle had fallen backwards onto the desk, her eyes opened wide with surprise.

"Merlin," Teddy whispered.

The door behind them opened, catching both of them by surprise.

Harry Potter had his wand out and looked to Teddy to be on the warpath.


	30. Chapter 30 Person of Interest

**Chapter 30: ****Person of Interest**

For a moment, Harry Potter did not say anything. His eyes cast upon the room and he surveyed the scene. It must have looked pretty strange, Teddy thought; him getting up from under a desk, Seavelle slumped over another one, Violet, cringing in the corner of the room.

"Where's her wand?" he asked.

Teddy walked over and handed it to him. From up close, he noticed that his godfather's robes were singed in a few places and part of his face was covered in what looked like coal dust.

"What did you cast?" Harry asked him.

"It was expelliarmus," Teddy replied in a small voice.

Harry, his wand still at the ready, walked over to Seavelle's side. Her eyes were closed, but the scowl on her face indicated that she was simply unwilling to open them. Harry must have suspected this as well because he leaned toward her and said, "How were you planning on getting out of here?"

She turned, her eyes fluttering open, and (Teddy had to hand it to her) somehow her usual smile fixed back on her face.

"Hello Mr. Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Right," Harry replied. From his robes he fished out a notepad and a Muggle pen. Muttering the locoscrible incantation, he placed the items on the table in the center of the room.

"Do you have a portkey on you?" he asked. "And, would it be strong enough to take us all out of here?"

Madame propped herself up into a more dignified position. Slowly, she withdrew her usual necklace from under her robes. At the lowest part of it was a brilliant red jewel. When Madame gently spun the jewel between her fingers, Teddy noticed that it wasn't attached by any physical means; rather, it seemed attracted to the base of the necklace.

"This will take us to a rendezvous point, where a more suitable portkey can lead us back to the castle."

"Good," Harry said. Aiming his wand away from everyone, he silently cast his patronus.

The massive stag, Teddy had seen so many times throughout his life, did a strange thing. It lifted it's head in what resembled a horse's whinny. Without emitting a sound, it was difficult to tell if the stag was upset or delighted. Whatever the case, it seemed excited, kicking one of it's legs against the ground as if it couldn't wait to take off.

"Let Ron know that I found Teddy and Violet. Seavelle's here. Everyone's fine. We will meet them at the Carosel drop off at seven A.M."

The stag acknowledged this, kicking both of his front legs into the air for a moment before turning and racing out of there.

"Did you say seven A.M.?" called Violet. It was the first thing she had said since casting the stupify spell before and the events of the evening seemed to have taken quite the toll on her. She had folded into a tight little ball in the far corner of the room.

Harry nodded. "That's fifteen minutes from now."

Violet sighed. "Do you mind if I close my eyes. I didn't realize how tired I am."

"Not just yet," he said before turning his attention back to Seavelle. "We're going to go over this back in London. You will be able to get an attorney to speak on your behalf."

Seavelle interrupted this mid-sentence with a delighted laugh. "An attorney? That hardly seems necessary."

"You will have the option," Harry continued. "But I do need to know something before we leave this chamber. The band of goblins that I encountered- where is their base located?"

Seavelle shook her head, the smile still on her face. "Are you serious?"

From the scowl developing on Harry's face, it was pretty obvious that he was. When he didn't answer her, Madame shook her head in confusion.

"But how could I possibly know that?"

"I have a team assembling very shortly, the sooner you tell me where you believe they are, the sooner we can capture them."

Madame was glaring at him now. "I don't know how many times you wish for me to tell you, but I have no idea where the goblin's base is. Now, may I have my wand back?"

"No," Harry replied. With his own wand, he conjured a small golden rope which attached itself to one of Seavelle's wrists. Before she could wriggle out of it, the rope had bound the two arms together in her lap.

"Are you crazy?" she asked him.

"Are you?" cried Harry. "Tricking two second year students into breaking out of school? Into the Black Stone Gorge?"

"I didn't trick them into anything."

"Save it," Harry said. "None of this is worth anything until we get you to the ministry anyway."

"I didn't trick them," she repeated. "I had found a note from Violet saying where they were headed. I only ran into them just outside this very vault."

Harry shook his head rapidly as if trying to shake an unpleasant thought right out.

"We can do this later," he said. "Just tell me where the goblins are. It could very much help you back home."

"I told you-" she started again but stopped when Harry's wand went to her temple.

"I don't like invading people's minds. If I don't have to, I won't."

Seavelle glanced quickly at Violet, who looked miserable in the corner. She glanced at Teddy but didn't seem encouraged by the glare he was giving her.

"Fine," she whispered. "Go ahead."

Whether Harry would have gone ahead with this or not, was impossible to tell, because at that moment a Jack Russell Terrier emerged through the wall.

"We found them," came Ron's magnified voice. "No casualties. We're bringing them back to headquarters. Send a patronus if you need additional help."

"Well," Harry said, lowering his wand. "Lucky you."

He reached out and grabbed the necklace from her neck, rotating it till he found the clasp.

Madame said nothing, as he undid it.

"Violet, Teddy. You two need to get a finger on the jewel." He held the ruby out for Seavelle, pulling it back for a second before she could put her bound hands near it. "You're stuck to me for the time being, so if there is anything I need to know before this activates, now is the time to tell me."

But Seavelle wasn't speaking to Harry anymore.

* * *

The portkey took them to a spot very near where the Carousel had deposited them that previous evening. It took a moment for everyone's eyes to adjust to the blinding glare of the sun, but when their vision returned, they were treated to a marvelous sight.

Without a cloud in the sky, the early morning rays lit up half of the lake in front of them. The other half was still cast in shadow, from the Black Stone Gorge behind them. A flock of birds sailed overhead towards the mountains in the distance. If it wasn't for the circumstances, this would seem like the first day on holiday for them.

"Accio Portkey," Harry called out.

A half-deflated football zoomed in from nowhere. Harry caught it, but wasn't prepared for a red ruby (slightly larger than the one in his hand) that smacked him in the side of the head.

"Forgot about that," he muttered. He held out the football for everyone to get a grip on it.

"Wait!" Seavelle cried. She glanced back at the entrance to the mine. "We know where the vault is, you can send the kids back. Just give me ten minutes to examine his notes."

Harry was shaking his head in disbelief. "You do realize how much trouble you're in right?"

"Please," Seavelle said. Tears had formed at the corner of her eyes. "Just ten minutes."

"No," Harry said. "There is no way. Maybe we can send a unit in the future, but right now we are heading back."

"I'll cooperate," She said. "I'll help you in any way I can."

"Help me with what? You're the person of interest."

The tears were flowing down her face now, and she sucked in deep gulps of airs between sobs. Teddy was so used to seeing her composed; this hysterical women seemed to be someone unrecognizable to him.

"I'll help you find their base."

Harry glanced at Violet and Teddy to see if she was making anymore sense to them. "Didn't you hear the patronus? The Aurors found the goblin's base. They're taking them all into custody right now."

"Not the Goblins," she sputtered. "The Dragon Bandits."

This was news and everyone knew it. Harry dropped the football to the ground, it collapsed in a heap. "What do you know about the Dragon Bandits?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Don't bother with legillimency, I don't know anything. I believe that I can help you find them though, just help me return to the vault for a few minutes."

Harry picked the football off the ground and held it on front of everyone. "We'll sort everything out at the ministry."

* * *

The Auror office, which Teddy had only seen a handful of times in his life, seemed especially chaotic as they exited the elevators on Level Two. Paper airplanes zoomed this way and that between the various cubicles that lined the room. Their group almost walked headfirst into the same single file line of goblin's from the mountain (this time their legs and arms were bound by iron shackles though).

The witches and wizards here didn't wear formal robes, but instead wore button down shirts over dark pants. They scurried about with manilla folders and clipboards of paperwork. When one of the Aurors noticed Harry, it only took a moment before the entire room seemed to shift their focus over to him.

"Ron!" Harry called out.

A familiar red head emerged from the group of wizards gathered around Harry. Without saying anything, he seemed to know exactly what to do. He started snapping his fingers and getting everyone's attention.

"Oi! No one speaks to Auror Potter until I say so? Got that? Now, whoever has a question you can ask me."

The assembled Aurors all began shouting again, this time at Ron. His godfather, for the first time since he saw him that day, cracked a small smile. With the path cleared, he led the three of them over to an empty conference room at the end of the hall.

Seavelle entered the room first, and Teddy was about to follow her through the door when Harry put his arm in front of him, blocking his entrance. "You two can wait at my desk for a few minutes while I talk with her."

Teddy grudgingly nodded. He felt like at this point, he had heard enough of the story that it seemed pointless to keep them out. On the other hand, he knew that Violet was anxious to get some quiet time.

Harry's office was the last room on the floor. In some ways it reminded him a lot of the Headmistress's. Both rooms seemed inundated with piles of folders. Both had newspapers strewn about, and books hastily left spread open to the last page visited. Teddy had to clear one of these books to access one of the recliner's across from his desk. Violet, simply plopped down on top of whatever was left on her chair.

"Thanks," Teddy said.

He wasn't sure if she would understand what he was thanking her for and was completely surprised when these words caused Violet to finally break down into tears.

"Violet?" he asked, gently shaking her arm.

She pulled her arm back and clutched herself tightly. "You shouldn't be thanking me," she said. "You shouldn't be talking with me."

Then he realized, she was ashamed that she had gotten him involved in the whole mess. Ashamed that she had put them in danger. Perhaps, she was ashamed too about turning on Seavelle back there. He had no idea how to ask and wasn't sure he wanted to know that answer.

"I can't believe I put that note where Madame could find it," she said.

The note... He had almost forgotten that. If Madame was telling the truth, then perhaps she hadn't been at fault at all. Had she threatened any of them in the vault? Had she done anything, besides taking some time to search the vault, to endanger them?

"Where did you leave the note?" he asked her.

She blew a breath in frustration, "I used the floo in the fainting room."

"The what?" Teddy asked, his voice much louder than he originally intended.

"Didn't you know? The fireplace in that room. It's how Madame was able to communicate with the outside world."

Teddy shook his head in disbelief. How many floos did Hogwarts have? How many other professors were holding secrets like this?

"She must have been monitoring it. I never had used it until that day, it seemed too risky."

She glanced over at Teddy, the makeup that he hadn't realized she wore, was now running in black streaks below her eyes.

"Why wouldn't you open that drawer?" she asked.

The question sounded far more curious than challenging. Still, he wondered how much his cousin was questioning her own actions in the room that day.

"I don't know exactly," Teddy said. "Something seemed wrong back there."

Violet shook her head, and underneath the tears, Teddy thought he saw her rolling her eyes at this. As if she was expecting this answer and that as usual, the Gryffindor didn't really know what the question was.

"She tried to put me under the Imperius Curse," Teddy said.

"I know," Violet whispered.

The two were quiet for a moment. From the slowing down of Violet's breathing, he wasn't sure if she had finally gone to sleep or not. The prospect seemed like a smart idea for him, although he doubted he would be able to do so for some time.

There was a knock on the office window and then Ron Weasely appeared.

"There you two are," Ron said, a wide smile crossing his face. "Hiding out in Harry's office huh?"

"Harry kicked us out," Teddy replied.

Ron nodded. "It's good to see you," he said, and glanced at Violet. "Both of you."

Violet had opened her eyes again and returned the smile. "You caught the goblins?"

"Oh yeah, that was no big deal," he said. "Found their lair, banished their weapons, put everyone to sleep."

"Pretty impressive," she said.

Ron chuckled. "So you two are ok?"

Teddy and Violet glanced back and forth at each other, not sure which one should respond.

"We'll talk later," he said. "In the meantime, I'm going find a medi-wizard to fix you two up."

* * *

By the time Harry had returned to his office, Violet had fallen into a deep sleep, and Teddy suspected he had nodded off a few times. He doubted from the look on his godfather's face that things had gone well with Madame.

"Sorry this has taken so long. I don't think we're going to get your statements here. The headmistress wants you two back this evening."

"What did Madame say," Teddy asked.

Harry gritted his teeth at her name. "A lot."

"Did she tell you what happened in the control room?" Teddy asked.

"No. And for the moment, it's not my biggest priority."

She must not have said anything if Harry believed that. Teddy glanced at Violet, who had just awoken and was frowning back at him. He wished she wasn't in the room when they discussed what had happened.

"We had to remove her wand because she was getting pretty crazy about opening the drawers."

Harry nodded. "I figured, but as I said, that's not the biggest concern right now."

"But she used-"

"Teddy enough. I have an inkling of what she may have said or done and right now I do not want to speak about it."

The unfairness of this cut at Teddy. It was almost as if he was being reprimanded along with Seavelle and Violet. Come to think of it though, he supposed he probably was. He had broken out of the school after all, not contacting anyone.

Harry seemed to know what was going through his mind though. He shook his head. "It's been a really long day, I know. You each will be giving me a full account of what happened down there. Right now though, we have a problem."

He walked over to the window that overlooked the rest of the office. Leafing through one of the piles of folders on the sill, he picked a particularly thick one out and spread it open on his desk.

"Are those?" Violet started to ask. She got up from her seat, and with a shaking hand, picked through the papers in the folder and pulled it back.

"Why do you have my letters?" She said, her voice dangerously quiet.

"Not just yours," Harry said. "Lots of letters, from lots of people."

If he expected this to somehow mollify Violet, he was wrong. If anything she looked ready to burst.

"I don't get it," Teddy said. "We knew that people were reading our mail."

Harry shook his head. "This isn't school mail."

"Nor is it legal," Violet snapped.

"Violet!" Teddy said, hoping to cut her off.

"This is ridiculous, you can arrest Madame and I'm supposed to look the other way when you're reading through our private mail?"

Harry sighed. "I didn't arrest Madame."

"Yes you did," she said to him. Her letter crumbled in her hand. "We all saw you do it."

Harry shook his head. "The charges won't stick. Under those circumstances, even with your testimony. There's no way a jury would convict her."

Suddenly Teddy was now the loudest and angriest person in the room. "What? Are you kidding me? She tried to put me in the Imperious Curse."

Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. "Why did you have to tell me that?"

For a moment his godfather simply rubbed his temples and took slow deep breaths. Finally he opened them up. Gently prying the crumbled letter out of Violet's hand, he unfolded it and placed it on the desk.

"She was using some sort of cipher." At their blank looks he tried again, "Code words- sort of runes with letters. She was disguising her correspondence so that only her contacts knew the real message."

"She could have just used the floo," Teddy muttered.

"Teddy!" Violet exclaimed.

Harry looked very much like he wanted to pursue this, but thankfully did not. Instead he started pulling other letters out.

"The thing about a cipher, once someone has figured out the code, it's useless. You can make a really difficult code to crack. But the best way to do it is to make a series of very difficult codes. Eventually we figured out that she was doing this."

"What does that have to do with us?" Violet asked.

"Well, nothing really with Teddy," Harry replied. "It has to do with you."

* * *

And just like that, Teddy found himself back at Hogwarts. It was surprisingly simple. They flooed from Harry's office, directly to the Headmistress. He was greeted on the other end by the Headmistress, his Head of House, and the school nurse.

"It's good to be back," he said by way of greeting.

He could tell by the small smile on Neville's face that he was the only one of the three to find this amusing. He supposed that he should feel somewhat contrite about breaking out of the school (and in the process breaking a half-dozen rules) but the truth was, he didn't. There was something about the trip out of school that seemed out of his hands. That under the circumstances, what else could he do? More importantly though, he was too worried about what Harry had asked his cousin to do, and about where her true loyalties lay. It was hard to worry too much about what the school might do.

Llewelyn didn't keep him in her office long. She informed him that he would be expected at a disciplinary hearing after his exams, before advising him to get as much revising in as he could. Before leaving her office, the nurse handed him a small vial of dreamless sleep potion.

When he awoke, the sun was just going down. He doubted that he had gotten six hours of sleep that day. It felt pointless to try and go back to bed though, as he did have a week's worth of exams where he would still be on school time. He trudged to the washroom and took a much needed shower, then put on a fresh set of clothes. Feeling a bit more refreshed, he made his way to the Common Room. His fellow Gryffindors had finally seemed to start worrying about their exams. They were focused on their books, trying to get the last bit of weekend studying done before their exams the following day.

No one paid him any special attention. Albert patted him once on the back in greeting, Suchin waved. He couldn't help but chuckle at Violet's dismissal of his house as being tragically clueless. Something zoomed across the room and smacked him on the forehead. He looked down and found a chocolate frog hopping near his foot. Kaitlin was standing across from him, her wand extended.

"Finally gotcha," she said, not bothering to hide the smirk on her face.

He picked the frog off the floor, and ate it in one bite.

"Gross," she said, although she didn't look all that bothered by it. "Where were you yesterday? We missed you in the library."

"Chasing house elves," he replied.

There was an open spot by the fireplace. It seemed just as good as any place for him to do his final revising before the week of exams.


	31. Chapter 31 Loyalties

**Chapter 31: Loyalties**

As Teddy suspected, their story would immediately spread around the school. When he walked into breakfast the next morning, he felt the eyes of the entire school on him. He hadn't told anyone though, so that left either a few of the professors or his cousin.

His eyes swept across the Slytherin table where many of the students were giving him outright accusatory looks. He found Violet, but she instantly looked away.

When he made his way past the Hufflepuff table, there was a bizarrely out of place burst of applause coming from the punkers of various years. He hurried past them, and found a seat at his own table, next to Clippy and Kaitlin.

"Is it true?" Clippy whispered. He seemed to be bouncing in his seat.

Kaitlin punched Teddy on the arm. He wasn't sure if she was mad at him for not telling her about what happened, or if this was just one of her joyful punches. "The Slytherin's say that you made up some crazy story about Madame abducting you. That she quit last night?"

The Gryffindors seated nearby had leaned closer in even before the first years asked him questions.

"I can't talk about it," he said to the two of them.

"What?" said Raul, the fifth year seeker from their house, who was seated a few seats down and wasn't even bothering to hide the fact that he was listening in.

Teddy glanced at him and then the rest of the house seated near by.

"I can't talk about anything till the exams are done. If you have questions, save them till Friday."

This statement caused a commotion of grumbling and the same sorts of questions that Clippy and Kaitlin had asked. Teddy had expected this though and was prepared to stay quiet. This seemed to first annoy and then anger those around him, so by the end of breakfast, his house seemed to want nothing to do with him.

Strangely, this house shunning made breakfast oddly calm and peaceful. He was able to get some last minute revising time that seemed to pay off as he felt like his performance in his first exam (Charms) was as well as he had ever done on a test.

He felt similarly good about the History of Magic exam that afternoon. Although it wasn't a class he really ever put too much time or effort into, he had clearly put more revising time across the board this year and felt that it would pay off to some degree.

Kai and Dewey found him on his way out of dinner that night. His two friends flanked either side of him.

"You know I can't tell you guys anything till Friday," Teddy said.

Dewey nodded. "We heard."

Kai slapped him on the back. "That's not what this is about. We've got a meeting tonight to get to."

"What?" Teddy asked.

The two frog marched him through the hallways until they were outside Neville Longbottom's office.

"What's this about?" Teddy repeated, but the two ignored him and knocked on the door.

It opened, and he found Neville Longbottom pouring over a blue-print of some type with the seventh year Hufflepuff's Pierce and Charlie. They stopped talking when they noticed the three second years. Neville conjured a few wooden chairs and motioned for them to take a seat.

"If it isn't our little innovators," he said.

Suddenly it hit him, this was a presentation for the Flying Park to become a sanctioned student club. How much had they told his Head of House?

"What did I miss?" Teddy asked.

Kai grinned. "We explained to Professor Longbottom the idea you had for an indoor flying club next year. He wanted some ideas of the space we would need, and since we weren't' really sure, Dewey got some of the older students in his house to help."

Teddy glanced at his Head of House. "And you like the idea?"

Neville was still looking at the blue print that the seventh years were giving him. "It's interesting. Do you think people will actually want to do this?"

The five boys averted one another's eyes.

"I think so," Teddy said evenly.

* * *

Kai and Dewey had of course wanted to know what had happened to Teddy over the weekend. As soon as they left Neville's office, they had insisted that Teddy join them in the Inter-house Common Room (which they had accurately guessed would be almost deserted as people would be revising in quieter places).

"It's not like we haven't kept other big secrets this year," Kai said as the three sat down at the table.

Teddy nodded to this, although he knew that they would be hurt when they found out that he had kept much of Babbit's story from them.

"And we basically know the whole thing anyway," Kai continued. "You and Violet snuck out- my guess the same way we did the last time."

His friends eyed Teddy expectantly at this. For awhile he kept a straight face, but eventually he grinned and nodded.

For some reason, this made both of them very happy. Dewey rapped his knuckles against the table a few times and Kai punched the air.

"Seriously guys," Teddy whispered. "I want to tell you everything, and unlike the rest of the school, I plan on telling you two the whole story. Just not till Friday."

"Why," Dewey asked. "What is happening between now and then. Are you that worried about your disciplinary hearing?"

"What?" Teddy replied. He had completely forgotten about that hearing. Looking back to yesterday afternoon, everything was sort of a blur.

"No, it's for the Auror's. They are working on something big."

Actually the only Auror involved in the plan was Harry. Harry and Violet. If yesterday was a blur to him, how much more fuzzy and unreal must it have been for his cousin. She had been half-asleep for much of the time after leaving the mountain till they flooed home.

"What do you want me to do?" Violet had asked his godfather. Her voice was quiet and quite restrained, exactly how it got when she was extremely angry at people. It seemed Harry had made quite the strategic mistake in showing her the personal letters that the Auror's had seized; that he had greatly underestimated her sense of privacy and freedom.

Harry was looking through another pile of folders on his desk. He extracted one which seemed to contain more letters.

"These are from Seavelle to various friends outside. Some of them are people we know, Rolf Pruit, Rowena Bixby, Buzz Hobfly. Some are people that I only know in passing, people that I'm sure you will know."

Violet shook her head. "Friends of my mother and father you mean."

Harry nodded. "I'm sure they know them. That's not the point though. I can't very well go and speak to Seavelle about this. She has already spun quite an elaborate tale of what happened yesterday. I don't dare send my godson to talk with her as he has the unfortunate habit of baiting her every chance he gets."

"Hey!" Teddy replied, but before he could defend himself the two were already ignoring him.

"She's going to try and get to you before she leaves Hogwarts. She's already mentioned your name a few times in my interview."

"What did she say?" Violet asked.

Teddy knew where Harry was going with this. He was going to ask Violet to try and get whatever confession she could from her. Once again, he wondered just how much thought Harry had put into this. Did he not notice how much Violet still defended and cared about Seavelle?"

"She said exactly what you know she would say. 'Who's side will she be on?' The evil auror's who track and antagonize your father and many of his perfectly decent and generous friends? Or the teacher who has taken such an interest in her throughout the year?"

Fearing the look on his cousin's face. Teddy grabbed her arm and shook it a bit. "She tried to put the Imperious Curse on me Violet."

Violet gritted her teeth and nodded. "I know, I was there."

Something odd had struck Teddy at that moment. He looked at Harry. "The humming, the song; down in the mines... Did you hear it?"

Harry nodded. "I heard it outside the mountain. It was like a choir."

"Exactly," Teddy said. "That's how you were able to find us right? Well how did Seavelle get down there?"

"She followed us," Violet said. "It wouldn't be that hard, we made a lot of noise."

"We didn't see the Goblins for a long time though," Teddy said. "Why not run ahead and join us as we made our way into the mountain."

Violet shrugged.

"Come on, you know exactly why she would have done it. She was waiting for me to lead her down there. She was willing to put us through a possible Goblin attack. Actually, she did put us through a Goblin attack."

Harry kept his face expressionless at this account. He had seemed oddly passive during their discussion, like he wanted the two to work this out on their own.

"Fine," Violet said. "She probably did follow us at a distance, hoping that we would find the mine. But I don't believe she was leading us into danger. You saw her at the end, she was firing curses at the Goblins before we made it into the vault."

"And what about before," Teddy said, their entire trek through the mountains now suddenly so vivid in his mind. "When we first saw the Goblins. Why did they stop chasing us and give us so much space to explore."

Violet was ready to respond to this, when Harry interrupted them. "Ok, we can go over this later."

He handed Violet a folder of her own. "In one week, we are going to cease our investigation. Seavelle is leaving the school on temporary break while she speaks with her attorney, her friends in the ministry, her friends from London and Hogsmede and abroad. On Friday, she will return to school, either to collect her things and leave or to grade Potion's exams and attend the End of Year Feast as a normal professor."

Violet opened the folder and found various letters, including her own.

"I still don't understand why you have this. What does it have to do with her code?"

"Where did you write this letter?" Harry asked.

"She shrugged, I wrote it to Seavelle from the Carousel this summer. I was thanking her for inviting my father and I to a dinner party this summer."

"Whose owl did you use?" Harry asked gently.

Her eyebrows rose at this. "I don't know, my mother was the one who sent it."

Harry nodded. "Read through the letters in there, read through the Auror's notes on them. I will be seeing you in a few days to talk about it. Until then, please think very carefully before responding to any correspondence that Seavelle is likely to send you."

* * *

Teddy can't help but think of that conversation every time he walked by his cousin. This only happened at mealtimes as he didn't run into her at the library or Inter-house Common Room. He did see her at their potions exam Wednesday morning, but the usual tables were absent, and in their place everyone had their own desk to use. Teddy took one where he normally sat, but Violet found a spot in the back of the classroom. She had avoided Teddy's eyes since returning to school. In Potions, like in the great hall, he noticed that her fellow Slytherin's were not sitting near her. Whatever terrible thoughts they had directed to him, they seemed to be thinking along the same lines with her.

Despite everything that has happened with Seavelle, despite his strongly believing that Fernius and even Rowley were complicit in the story that was fed to Violet, he couldn't help but be impressed with the Potion's exam. Compared to Slughorn's last year (and he hadn't exactly thought that was easy) this felt like they were taking the O.W.L.'s. Rather than just matching what antidotes go to which poisons, they had to explain the family trees of various ingredients and how their effects slightly changed between them. There were essay questions that asked him to break down complicated potions into their most base parts. The last question on the test concerned the attraction potion they had made late in the year. Why their unique makeup was essential in creating an effective concoction.

When he was done with the exam, he truly felt like had done something worthwhile. It was a nice feeling, and it would give him at least a little remorse (he guessed) if Harry were to ever arrest and convict their Potions instructor.

* * *

Wednesday night was Astronomy. On Thursday, he had Herbology and Charms exams. Compared to Potions, none had seemed all that bad. All that he had left was Transfiguration the following morning. He did a bit of studying that night, but he knew that he had reached the point where he was as ready as he would be. Instead, he sat by the fireplace and speared marshmallows on forks with Kaitlin, Clippy, and Suchin. The three were all done with their exams. They were also among the very small group of people within his house that were currently talking with him.

He assumed the rest of his house will forgive him eventually for not explaining his story. Some of the older kids had already seemed to (they waved at him in the halls and joke around with him in the common room). The Flying Park club was quite popular with the older students from around the school, and the Gryffindor's were especially happy that one of its founders and the club advisor were both from their house.

The people in his year though, Julie, April, and his roommates especially, seem betrayed by his not confiding in them. This seemed very odd to him. It took him a day of the silent treatment from them before he realized that they were unaware of his other secrets and that they would probably be doubly mad if they found out. Still, they had gotten in fights in the past; he assumed that this too will pass.

Harry had said to Violet that he would show up in a few days. Did that mean that he had already? Did Violet get any letters or communications from Seavelle? Had she made up her mind about who she was going to support? At the moment, as he toasted the food and idly chatted with the first years, he was tempted to go down to Slytherin and confront her. It was a foolish plan though, one that he could dismiss outright, as it would surely only make things worse in her house.

* * *

Professor Curr's Transfiguration exam took place in two rooms. Half of the class was in the normal potions classroom, working on the theory based part of the exam, the other half, went to the Room of Requirement of all places. An obstacle course of sorts had been set up. While the rest of the class waited behind a plush red curtain, one student at a time worked with Professor Curr as they made their way from practical task, to practical task.

Teddy wondered if part of this test was designed with him in mind. The first challenge was simply facing a large mirror and changing one's appearance as much as possible using only transfiguration techniques.

"Do I need to use a wand for this?" he asked the professor, who chuckled back.

"You better at least use the correct wand motions," he says.

This was no problem for Teddy. He found that he has retained a great amount of information in that class. Maybe not the most of anyone in class, but enough that he felt he could significantly change his appearance even if he wasn't a metamorphmagi.

Next, there was a massive rope net, hanging over a pool of water, that he must go through.

"You can't use your hands, except to hold your wand," the professor said.

Teddy made the water on the ground freeze into ice. He transfigured the top strands of rope into rocks which fell down onto the ice, allowing him to walk easily over it.

After that, he had to solve a sort of puzzle where Curr had suspended an assortment of brightly colored balls at the top of a rock face. Teddy needed to make the various rocks holding them up disappear and reappear at different parts of the rock face to get the various balls down to the ground.

"Full marks for getting each ball into the correct colored slot," Curr said.

Lastly, Professor Curr led him to a small table where he conjured a globe, swelled it to three times its size and set it out in front of him. Teddy doesn't need to wait for the directions to start going to work. He remembered how amazed he was at the beginning of the year at Curr's demonstration. It's wonderful to be able to do it now himself.

* * *

With all his exams done, Teddy knew that the remainder of the day would not be fun. He could lay low until dinner, but he knew everyone would want to know what had happened. Why Harry told him to keep everything secret through Friday. Surely he could have just told him to wait until after the feast, till everyone was leaving. What if Violet hadn't come through yet? What if the investigation was still going on and everything would be ruined when Teddy told people his version of the events.

These worries repeated over and over in his mind as he made his way down to dinner that evening. He was walking very slowly, well behind the rest of his housemates; slowly enough that it wouldn't be much of a stretch to simply turn back and skive off dinner that night. This seemed like a decent enough idea and he actually turned, before walking straight into Neville Longbottom.

His Head of House, grabbed his arm excitedly. "Teddy, just the person I was looking for."

"Oh," Teddy said. "Right, the disciplinary hearing. Is that now?"

Neville blinked, confused for a moment. "Hmm, I think that will be postponed. The Headmistress is way too busy at the moment as things have gone somewhat haywire today."

A surge of hope shot through Teddy. "Really? Did they arrest Seavelle?"

Neville shook his head. "Not yet. But it seems that they have caught the St. Mungo's people, and the Dragon Bandits or whatever they are really named."

"Really?" Teddy whispered. "So what does that have to do with the professor?"

Neville clapped him on the back. "You remember how Dr. Babbit told you to have Harry question him personally?"

Teddy nodded.

"Well he did. And when he was able to name a few suspects names, everything changed."

"What do you mean?" Teddy asked.

Neville smiled. "Babbit's gone."

* * *

Ultimately, Teddy didn't have to worry about being interrogated at dinner that night. Neville had the house elves send food up to his office, and they talked well past the end of their meal. While he clearly wasn't getting all the answers from him, he was getting some.

His Aunt Hermoine was probably right; there probably wasn't a group of Dragon Bandits out there. He also suspected that she was right that neither Harry nor Ron knew the full extent of Dr. Babbit's criminal wrongdoing. There was a connection between the two though and it seemed to be this.

Dr. Babbit was meeting with a group of wizards back in London. The Aurors were following these wizards for awhile but this investigation largely stopped when the goblin attacks around London and Hogsmeade had accelerated. Why exactly one or two of these formally watched wizards became targets of the Auror's, Neville wasn't telling. Teddy strongly suspected that Seavelle and her letter's had something to do with it, but until he could speak with Violet, he wouldn't know for sure.

The Aurors once again started digging into these names though. They obtained warrants and searched their homes, and their suspicions were confirmed when they found a set of medical records. Every person who showed up at St Mungo's, including Chloe, and the dead muggle man, all of their records were there.

When Harry confronted Babbit on this, he had immediately disavowed any connection to "those extremists". That, 'yes he had worked with them, but he had gotten out before the school year started, before anything unethical had occurred.'"

"And that's not the best part," Neville said after he had gone over the whole account with Teddy. "We found out the procedures involved with everyone, including Chloe."

Teddy felt his heart beat fiercely. He knew from Neville's happy tone that he shouldn't be worried but it was hard to convince his body that.

"It was something called a Dee Enay test. Apparently they took a small amount of her blood."

Seeing the look on his face, Neville rushed ahead, "No like just a few drops of it, once a day for a week. She couldn't have been knocked out or confounded or anything, she was taking written exams and speaking with them the whole time. From the records she seemed perfectly fine."

Teddy frowned. "But she doesn't remember any of it?"

Neville nodded. "They did perform a memory charm at the end. Which explains why they would leave them at St Mungo's rather than just releasing them back to their house after losing a week of time."

"Yeah, but what about the Muggle who died?" Teddy persisted.

"Well that was the real problem wasn't it?" Neville said. "As far as we can tell, all of the muggles involved agreed to these tests. Why, we are not exactly sure."

Teddy knew why. Chloe had all but confirmed it in her letter. She thought those tests could somehow lead to her being magical once again. He didn't say anything, instead he let Neville continue.

"We think this person changed his mind at the last minute. Babbit had called the people Harry was after, 'crusading thugs'. It's likely they panicked and killed him."

"Wow," Teddy replied. He tried to imagine what Chloe would have been thinking when she got involved with these people. What she might have told her parents in order to not have them worry when she was gone for a week. How desperate had she been to rejoin their world?

* * *

Eating with Neville had given Teddy a good idea. He found Dewey and Kai later that night at each of their Common Rooms and convinced them both to eat with him in the kitchens the next day. They didn't take a lot of convincing as both wanted to hear what was going on and sensed they would find out in that isolated part of the school.

So it was over breakfast the next day, seated around a small table in the far corner of the room, as far away as possible from the hustling, bustling house elves, that Teddy explained what had happened in the past week. He started with Chloe's letter (which he still had in his backpack but still didn't feel comfortable sharing) and then got to his meeting with Llewleyn. He explained that Violet had found him later that day- their discussion, their breaking out of the castle, and their riding the Carousel.

"You got to ride that?" Dewey asked.

Teddy shrugged, "We were only on it for an hour or so. We never left the lobby."

They didn't press him on that though so he explained everything that happened in the mountain and then the vault and finally in Harry's office.

"And what about Babbit?" Kai asked.

He sighed, as he was hoping this would come up at a later time. "That's another thing entirely."

His two friends wanted to know though, as he knew they would, so he admitted everything that he had know about Babbit. From his family's revealed conversation at the beginning of the year, to Harry and Neville tracking him behind closed doors, to Neville's explanation the previous evening.

When he finished, he was surprised that his friends weren't glaring at him; rather they were gaping at him in amazement. He realized that he must have looked exactly like this when he was talking to Neville that previous day. Like his brain was still a few minutes behind the rest of the world.

"And to think, the whole time I thought you had walked in on Babbit in a broom closet with the headmistress or something," Kai said.

Dewey and Teddy both wrinkled their noses and stared at him incredulously.

"What?" Kai said. "It's not that crazy."

* * *

His friends ate with him at lunch and dinner that day. He hung out with them in the Inter-house Common Room that night and then met them for a late breakfast back in the kitchens on Sunday. They all agreed that waiting till the End of the Year Feast to rejoin the rest of the school was the wisest plan. Rather than dwell on how anti-social they were being, they talked mostly about Violet.

Dewey was under the opinion that Violet just needed some time to view Harry's files and to think about her last conversation with Teddy before she would come to her senses and cooperate with Harry.

Kai didn't share this view. "I'm sorry Teddy, Violet's one of my best mates, but she has been mooning over Madame all year long."

Teddy didn't question Kai's description of her being best mates but he did wince a bit at Kai's words. They were exactly the doubts that he had been feeling since the previous weekend.

Both Dewey and Kai both agreed with Teddy's assessment of Seavelle's actions in the cave. That she must have been following the two of them through a Goblin controlled cave.

"Plus remember what Harry said," Kai pointed out. "About her knowing where the Goblin's base was. He probably thinks that she was working with them in getting you two as quickly as possible to the mine."

This was something of a stretch, but was intriguing nonetheless. The three continued to debate just to what extent Seavelle was connected to the Goblins until sometime that afternoon. Finally, they needed to pack and to change into their nice robes for the feast.

* * *

When Teddy entered the Great Hall that evening, he once again noticed every eye in the hall on him. This was extremely strange considering most people had been ignoring him since the previous week. He turned to the staff table and saw why; Seavelle was sitting in her seldom used spot.

He had barely sat down at his table, when students from all the years of his house started crowding around. A loud buzzing semi-circle had formed around him, and for a moment he thought that people were going to crush him.

"Oi," called Vin. "Everyone shut up."

The group did quiet down but no one was making their way back to their seats. Instead they continued watching him, with folded arms and expectant looks on their faces. When Teddy didn't answer them right away, Vin pointed to him.

"Alright, settle this once and for all Lupin. Are the stories true?"

"No they're not," came a very surprising voice.

The crowd parted behind Vin, and Teddy found Violet looking back and forth amongst the Gryffindors.

"Teddy and I did leave school to visit his family's prospecting mine," Violet said. She ignored the shocked murmurs that came up at this. "Madame did come and save us. Teddy and I couldn't talk about it all week though while the Auror's worked with Madame."

Teddy wasn't sure if his cousin was misspeaking here or if she was actually going with the story that the Auror's and Madame were working together.

"It worked," Violet said. "The Auror's were able to catch the goblin's off guard. They found a base somewhere underneath Diagon Alley this week. Madame said that it's going to be the key to ending the war with the goblins."

Glancing around at his fellow Gryffindors, Teddy could tell that he wasn't the only one who found this news unbelievable.

Violet didn't appear fazed by this though. "Check the Prophet tomorrow," she said. "It will all be there."

She turned and headed back towards her table. The group of Gryffindors once again formed a semi-circle around him, no doubt to find out the details of their trip last week. Teddy didn't care though, he pushed through them and raced after Violet. Grabbing her shoulder, he spun her around near the Ravenclaw table, aware that everyone in the hall was likely watching them.

When she turned, her face was calm, even happy to speak with him.

"I tried," she said.

"You tried what?" he whispered.

"I tried my best," she said.

With that she turned and walked back in the direction of her table. He didn't need to turn and look to know that Seavelle was giving him that same challenging/amused smile she always did. He turned anyway, and of course she was. And it didn't make him feel any better whatsoever to know that he had been right.


End file.
